The Two Doctors
by mlr96
Summary: Meet Dr. Spencer Reid, a genius, an FBI Agent, a profiler and a Time Lord. Story #12, Part 2: For almost any species in the universe, spending long periods of time alone in a small space would be mind-numbing, but for telepathic or semi-telepathic species such as Time Lords, not being in the presence of others was even worse.
1. Birthday

_This is going to be a good day,_ Spencer Reid thought to himself as he walked into the bullpen area, ready to start on his paperwork.

Not only did they manage to catch a serial rapist who killed six women just in time to save the seventh, but it was also his birthday _and_ JJ agreed to go see a football game with him. He wasn't a big fan of football, but JJ was and it was a good opportunity to see if what he was starting to feel towards her was merely friendly emotions or something more.

It had been quite a long time since he had friends, and I was hard for him to remember what these things were supposed to feel like.

"G-Man!" Garcia called out, making his head pop up. "There's someone here to see you… he's been waiting since before you came back."

"What?" Spencer asked, confused. "Who?"

"Wouldn't say his name," Garcia huffed, clearly annoyed with the stranger. "Bald guy, tallish, leather jacket… he said he's a childhood friend."

Spencer's eyes widened as realization came upon him. There was only one person who would refuse to give his name, his description won't ring a bell, but would still claim to be a friend. And a _childhood friend_ at that…

"Where is he?" he asked.

"At the conference room," Garcia replied. "Do you want me to tell him you're here?"

"No," Spencer said, just a bit too quickly as he collected his belongings. "I'll go see him now."

When he reached the conference room, he took a deep breath to calm himself down before opening the door to meet the man inside. The man in question looked up at the sound of someone entering the room, his eyes following Spencer as the FBI Agent shut the blinds and turned the camera off.

"Bit paranoid, don't you think?" he asked in a northern British accent.

"It isn't paranoia if someone's after you," Spencer replied shortly.

"Is someone after you?" the stranger asked.

"About half the species in the universe, I'd assume," Spencer said. "I got used to it."

"Yes, you did," the man nodded, before looking at Spencer again. "Human suits you," he said. "It's your birthday today, isn't it?"

"Twenty four years," Spencer confirmed.

"Rounding about half a millennia down, I believe," the man said with a small smile. "Looking good for your age, though."

"You're several hundred years older than me," Spencer told him, not returning the smile. "Rounding down or not."

"I still remember that day as if it was yesterday," the man said. "Do you."

"It's a bit vague," Spencer said coldly.

"Twenty four years," the man muttered. "Long time."

"And all those years, I didn't see you once," Spencer said. "How long has it been for you?"

"Too long."

"I'd wager. You regenerated."

"Twice," the man said before sighing. "How've you been? How does Earth life suit you?"

"Enough with the small talk, Doctor," Spencer said, rolling his eyes. "There are only two possible reasons you're here. We won, and the Time Lords are after me for Desertion, or we lost, and you're here to tell me Daleks are coming."

An odd look crossed the Doctor's eyes before he spoke again.

"I remember how small you were that day," he said. "Your regeneration has gone wrong and you ended up as a day old baby."

"I know," Spencer all but bit out. "I was there."

"I had no choice but to leave you here –"

"And I have no time," Spencer cut him off. "I've had escape plans ready since I was twelve, Doctor, and I need to know which one to use."

"Professor, you need to understand that –"

"And _you_ need to understand that I'm not the Professor anymore," Spencer said. "I haven't been the Professor for the past twenty four years. I am Dr. Spencer Reid and, unlike you, I earned my title. So stop going in circles and just _tell me_ – do I need to protect myself from Daleks or from Time Lords?"

"Neither," the Doctor said quietly.

"Then you must be really stupid or really desperate to think I'm going to start fighting the war now –"

"I said neither," the Doctor snapped. "Not both. The War wasn't ending, the universe was burning and the Time Lords lost what little sanity they had left. Someone had to end it. _I_ had to end it."

Spencer looked at the man he once considered his closest friend, scared to ask the question but also knowing he had to.

"What did you do?"

"They're gone," the Doctor said. "All the Daleks, and…"

"And all the Time Lords," Spencer muttered, falling on one of the chairs. "You… you _killed_ them…"

"I had no choice," the Doctor said. "You have to understand – we're the only ones left! Please, Professor –"

"Don't call me Professor," Spencer said, his voice deathly silent.

"Spencer…" the Doctor said, falling to his knees. " _Please_ …"

"I need you to go right now," Spence said. "You… you need to go."

"Spencer –"

"You need to go," Spencer repeated. "Because right now the only thing I can think about is that you committed double genocide and that one of the species that died is _our species_."

"I had to," the Doctor whispered. "I had no choice…"

"I believe you," Spencer told him. "But that doesn't change what you did and I… I can't see you right now."

"I understand," the Doctor said, trying not to show how hurt he was by the words that came out of his old friend's mouth. "Would you like me to call someone on my way out?"

"Garcia," Spencer said. "The woman who was here when you arrived."

"Okay," the Doctor said, rising to his feet. "And, Spencer… I'm sorry."

Spencer didn't say anything, nor did he move when the Doctor opened the door and walked out. Later, he'll realize he was more than likely in a state of shock but for now all he did was stare at the air in front of him.

"Reid?" Garcia asked, walking into the room. "The man said that – oh, honey, what happened?"

He didn't realize he was crying until Garcia wiped a tear from his cheek before pulling him into a hug. He rested his head on her shoulder, shaking as he sobbed, holding her tight.

"Did… did someone die?" she asked.

 _Yes,_ he wanted to say. _A lot of people died. My entire species died._

But he couldn't say that.

None of his team members knew he was alien, and he knew he could never tell them. Even if it wouldn't make them think he was crazy and throw him in a mental institution, every alien fighting agency from Torchwood to UNIT would be on his tail – whether to use him or kill him didn't matter.

So he just nodded, allowing Garcia to comfort him and allowing himself to keep pretending he was nothing more than just another human.

Allowing himself to keep pretending he was Dr. Spencer Reid, even if the lie was already starting to show.


	2. A Mother Knows

**A/N:** **Hello and thanks to everyone who read, followed, favorited or reviewed the last chapter!**

 **For reference, this chapter's setting takes place directly after "The Fisher King Part 2" for Criminal Minds, and post "Doctor Who: The Movie", beginning of Time War for Doctor Who.**

 **Also, there are no pairings decided yet for this story. If you have something you want to see, send me a message or review!**

* * *

The Doctor ran into the TARDIS, shrugging his jacket off his shoulders and throwing it at the pilot's chair.

"Close the door!" he called out to the man who followed him in.

"Really?" the man replied, doing just that. "I thought I should leave it open and let the bullets in."

"Cheeky doesn't suit you well, Professor," the Doctor smiled, though his tone was somber.

"We are being shot at by our own brothers and sisters," the Professor replied sharply. "Time Lords who had been given permission to make us regenerate if it meant holding us off for long enough so that they could force us to fight the War."

"Good thing they're not gonna catch us, then," the Doctor told him. "Time Lords are lousy shots."

"Yeah," the Professor said, ignoring the sharp pain from his abdomen whenever he moved. "Bad shots. Anyway, we need to get out of here."

"Really?" the Doctor asked with a cheeky smile. "I thought we should stay here and let them tear my TARDIS apart."

"Oh, shut up," the Professor laughed.

"I'm just saying…"

"Shut up and fly her away already."

The TARDIS hummed in agreement, causing the Doctor and the Professor to turn their attention to the console. Each of them was handling a different part of it, and they worked together perfectly.

They ran around it, the Professor losing his footing a couple of times but always getting back to his feet before the Doctor noticed. Pulling levers and pressing buttons, the duo managed to fly the machine away before the room shook and the Professor fell to the ground, unable to push himself up again.

"Professor!" the Doctor called out, rushing to his friend. "Professor, are you okay?"

"I… no," the Professor replied, rolling to his back and revealing a small pool of blood where he previously laid. "I don't think I'm okay."

"What happened?" the Doctor asked.

"The Time Lords," the Professor replied shakily. "Not as bad shots as we thought they were."

"It's… It's gonna be okay," the Doctor said. "I'll take you to the Med-Wing and we'll fix you up in no time."

"It's too late," the Professor said, nodding at his glowing hand. "It's starting."

"But – but you can't!" the Doctor cried out. "Professor, we're still at the Vortex! It's a recipe for disaster!"

"Doctor, you need to step away."

"Professor, you can't possible consider –"

"Now, Doctor!"

The Doctor scrambled backwards, unable to do anything as his oldest friend regenerated, bright golden light shining out of him. He covered his eyes as he waited for it to end, and for about a minute after it did he dared not move.

The only thing that broke through was a sound that told him it went worse than any of them could have imagined – a sound he never thought he'd hear in the TARDIS.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to see a gurgling baby staring back at him.

* * *

"Mom," Spencer said, standing at the doorstep of the room. His mother looked up at him and he smiled. "We found her," he said. "Rebecca's safe. You helped us save her life."

"Is it time for lunch yet?" Diana Reid asked.

"What?"

"I'm lecturing everyone in Tristan and Iseult," she went on. "They're all gathering in my room after lunch."

Spencer swallowed hard, looking at his mother sadly. "Can I attend the lecture, too?"

"Have you read any of the material?" Diana questioned.

"I've had them read to me," he replied.

"Wonderful," Diana said. "That's the best way, isn't it?"

"By far."

She smiled, looking at him for a moment before the smile drifted off her face. "You're sadder," she stated. "Is it because he didn't come back?"

"Who didn't come back?" Spencer asked, confused.

"The man who left you," Diana said. "He wore a doctor's coat, but he wasn't a doctor. At least, not the usual kind – I've met enough of those to know."

"Mom?"

"They told me I imagined it," she said. "That there was never anyone there, but I knew the truth. A mother knows."

"Mom?" Spencer asked, worried. "Who are you talking about?"

"The other Doctor," she replied, looking at something that he couldn't see. " _Your_ Doctor."

* * *

The Doctor was holding a baby in his hands as he walked out of the TARDIS, looking at it sadly. The baby looked back at the sorrowful face, taking in the features of his childhood friend. He knew, without need for words, that this was more than likely the last time he'll see him in a long time, and couldn't help but wish he was able to protest.

"I'm sorry, old friend," the Doctor said as he walked into the building and started heading up the floors. "But it won't be safe for you to stay with me."

The Professor opened his mouth to reply, only for baby babbling to come out of it. Tears welled in his eyes and he tried holding them back, not wanting to cry.

"I know," the Doctor said, rocking him softly. "I know. But you'll be safe here. Safer, anyways. One of the babies here," he added, "Had died a couple of minutes ago. The nurses hadn't noticed yet, so I'll just make the switch. Nobody will ever know you're not him, and I'll make sure to give him a proper burial."

Briefly, the Professor wondered what would happen if anybody heard this conversation. It would seem odd, for a grown man to say all of those things to a seemingly newborn baby. Then again, an outsider would have no way of knowing that inside the body of an infant was a six hundred years old Time Lord, frustrated at his inability to react.

"I'll come back, when the War is over," the Doctor promised. "No matter the outcome, if we win, or lose… I'll come back either way."

 _I don't want you to need to come back,_ the Professor wished he could say. _I don't want you to leave in the first place._

It was a quick in and out as the Doctor made the switch, lingering just a moment too long as he brushed a finger over the baby's cheek.

"Goodbye, Professor."

And, just like that, the Professor shed the name he was using for the past half a millennia, taking a new one instead.

 _Spencer Reid._

* * *

"It was less than a couple of hours since I gave birth," Diana said. "I couldn't sleep… I had a bad feeling. I looked out the window and saw him."

"Saw the Doctor?" Spencer asked.

"Not immediately," she replied. "First, there was this strange sound. Like… whooshing of some kind. A blue box appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the street. Then, the Doctor came out." Her eyes darted up to him. "And he was holding you."

"Mom…" Spencer said quietly.

"You are my son," Diana told him sharply. "I took care of you as a baby, I watched you grow up. You are my son, and you will always be my son. But you weren't always.

"I understood what happened later. Why I couldn't sleep. The boy I gave birth to died but you didn't. You were there, and alive, and from the moment I looked at you I knew I would do anything for you."

"How?" Spencer asked in disbelief. "How could you look at a boy that wasn't your son and know you were going to treat him as if he was?"

"I… I just knew," Diana said simply, smiling at the man who will always be her little boy. "A mother knows."


	3. Facts, Part 1

**A/N:** **For reference, this chapter's setting takes place during "Aliens of London", the fourth episode in the first series of the revived Doctor Who**

* * *

The BAU team was back from another long case. They spent two weeks arriving just after a third young woman was killed. The UNSUB committed six more murders before the finally managed to catch him, and he killed himself as soon as he saw them coming.

Cases like these always ended in a silent flight back home. Spencer knew everyone was taking it hard yet he still felt like this time, it was different for him.

 _"She was all I had left,"_ the sister of victim number five said, her voice hoarse with tears.

 _"We're the only ones left,"_ the Doctor begged him to understand not that long ago.

Despite everything he did and said, Spencer didn't know what he would do if he lost him.

He was thinking more and more about the other Time Lord lately. He was no longer angry – he wasn't sure if he ever was – but the grief still hit him like a punch to the guts every once in a while.

Mostly when he was alone. Mostly at night. Mostly just when he thought he finally made peace with everything that happened.

 _They were the only ones left._

An entire species – well, _two_ species, but he sure wasn't going to mourn the Daleks – gone in an instant. Only two individuals left, and he was one of them.

And he couldn't even bring himself to talk to the other one.

He sighed as they reached the bullpen area, intent only on collecting their absolute necessities before heading back out, each to their own home. Al he wanted to do now was get to his apartment, take a long shower and go to sleep.

"Guys!" JJ's voice called out from the conference room. "Come here, I think you need to see this."

"Don't know about you, but I'm going home," Morgan called back.

"No, guys," JJ said again. "I _really_ think you need to see this!"

Spencer sighed, putting his bag down before going to the conference room where JJ, Hotch, Garcia and Gideon already stood, watching the TV.

"Is that…" he started, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was really seeing this, and not hallucinating. "Did a spaceship just crashed into Big Ben?"

"Seems that way," Garcia whispered as Morgan and Prentiss walked into the room.

"What?" Morgan asked, looking up at the TV. "Did you really call us back for _this_? This is obviously a prank –"

"Shh!" Spencer hissed, grabbing the remote and turning up the volume.

 _"– in from across the country to control wide-spread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the –"_

 _"– could this really be Planet Earth's interaction with outer space life forms or is this just a –"_

 _"– the lookout for more spaceships so all flights in North American airspace have been –"_

 _"– live from the White House, but the Secretary General has asked that people watch the –"_

 _"They've found a body."_

Spencer finally stopped jumping between channels, ignoring the curious glances from his teammates as he stepped closer to the screen.

 _"It's unconfirmed but I'm being told a body's been found in the wreckage."_

"Spencer?" Garcia asked. "Is everything alright?"

"The TV won't tell us much," he muttered half to himself. "Garcia, could you bring your computer?"

"Be right back," Garcia said, jumping from her seat and running to her office.

"Reid, you don't actually believe that, do you?" Morgan asked. "Aliens don't exist."

"You can never know," Spencer replied. "But, just to be sure, we're going to see what the people in charge think about all of this."

"Reid," Hotch said carefully, "I hope you're not going to suggest anything illegal."

"Does hacking into military database counts as illegal?" Garcia asked, rushing back into the room. "'Casue I'm pretty sure that's what I'm here for."

"Forget about the army," Spencer told her. "Go straight to UNIT, they'll be the ones to deal with this. And she's not going to hack in."

"She's not?"

"I'm not?"

"It's not hacking if you have the password," Spencer replied.

"You have UNIT's password?" Prentiss asked. "How?"

"I have a friend," Spencer shrugged. "Whenever they try to block you, type in Buffalo. Two F's, one L. I'll be back in a couple of minutes.

"Where are you going?" Morgan called out after him as he headed out of the room and Spencer took a deep breath.

"I need to make a phone call."

* * *

A few minutes quickly turned out to be more. The Doctor wasn't answering his phone and Spencer didn't know if he had a companion, what was their number or if they were even on Earth at the moment.

He constantly walked in and out of the conference room, moving between trying to get a hold of the Doctor, following the reports on the news and waiting for Garcia to find any useful information – a task that turned out to be harder than he anticipated since the system kicked her out every ten minutes.

"Wouldn't we get in trouble if UNIT found out what we're doing?" she asked him about two hours after she first logged in.

"They're dealing with a possible alien invasion," Spencer replied. "Last thing on their mind is a couple if FBI agents. And even if they do catch sight of us, this password is enough to let them know we're friendly."

"Who's that friend of yours?" Prentiss asked. "I worked with UNIT once or twice. I might know them."

"He's…" Spencer sighed. "It's complicated.

Across the room, Morgan and Hotch were having a heated discussion with JJ and Gideon.

"But if aliens were real, wouldn't we know about it?"

"Not if the government hid it from us."

"So, what?" Morgan asked. "You believe in aliens _and_ conspiracy now?"

"I'm realistic, but I keep an open mind," JJ told him. "There might be aliens. They might have contacted Earth before. But if they had, do you really think they'd put it on TV?"

"It's on TV now," Hotch noted.

"Only because they had no choice," Gideon said. "A ship crashed into Big Ben. You cant exactly swipe _that_ under the carpet."

"You don't know if that's really a ship!" Morgan said. "Reid, please tell me you don't actually believe that."

For a moment, everybody quieted down to hear Spencer's response. He sighed, glancing at his phone shortly before speaking.

"Unified Intelligence Taskforce," he said. "That's what UNIT stands for. The organization was formed in 1970 after an alien being called 'The Great Intelligence' nearly invaded Earth. Its purpose is to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to Planet Earth."

He waited a moment, letting his words sink in before moving on at a quicker pace, "That's without even starting to talk about LONGBOW, which was founded by the League of Members and disbanded during WWII, the ICMG or Torchwood, which was founded by Queen Victoria back in 1879. There had been organizations fighting aliens for over a hundred years now."

"So you believe they're real?"

"I believe in facts," Spencer shrugged. "There has been numerous cases of alien invasions, it's just that UNIT, Torchwood and the other organizations always made sure to keep it quiet."

"These are not facts," Hotch said. "These are nothing more than circumstantial evidence."

"Did you ever see someone who was able to prove, beyond doubt, that they're alien?" Morgan questioned, looking at Spencer with a raised bow.

 _Depends on your definition to alien,_ Spencer wanted to say. _For me, you guys are the aliens._

Since he couldn't voice that thought out loud, he kept quiet, and for a moment there was a victorious look on Morgan's face before Prentiss spoke.

"I did," she stated, surprising everyone in the room. "When I was a kid, I joined my mom one day when she went to an important meeting and couldn't leave me alone. There were two men there… One of them had curly hair and the longest scarf I've ever seen, and the other wore an overall and a top hat.

"I was bored, so the one with the overall came to talk to me. He let me wear his hat and made me laugh," she remembered. "Said I was the best styled princess he'd ever seen, and that it was saying a lot seeing as he met all of George II's five daughters and four granddaughters."

"So a stranger told you a story when you were a kid," Morgan said. "Doesn't mean it was true. He could've just tried to keep you from being bored."

"He had two heartbeats," Prentiss countered and Spencer's eyes widened. "I felt them. He said his name was the Professor and then he had to go." She swallowed before adding, "I still have that hat."

Spencer looked at her for a moment, wanting to say something before Prentiss turned around and walked out of the room. His phone buzzed in his hand, reminding him to try and call the Doctor again and he sighed before making his way out, avoiding eye contact as he did.


	4. Facts, Part 2

The Doctor parked the TARDIS outside Powell Estate. He had found a lot in the hour he was gone, and though not all of it was good – most of it wasn't, if he was perfectly honest – he now knew more about what was going on and could start handling it.

A small smile rose to his face at the sound of the TARDIS door opening.

"Okay, so I lied," he said. "I went for a look. The whole crash-landing's a fake. I thought so – just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben, come on! So I thought, 'Let's go and have a look at the pilot.'"

"My mum's here," Rose said, coming to stand next to him.

"Oh, just what I need," he sighed. "Don't you dare make this place domestic!"

"You ruined my life, Doctor," a voice called out and he turned around to see no other than Mickey Smith looking at him. _Great._ "They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you."

"You see what I mean?" he asked Rose, rolling his eyes. "Domestic!"

"I bet you don't even remember my name!"

"Ricky," the Doctor said with a small smile. Now _that_ would teach him.

"It's Mickey."

"No," the Doctor shook his head. "It's Ricky."

"I think I know my own name!" Mickey called out angrily. Oh that was just too easy.

" _Think_ you know it?" he questioned. "How stupid are –" The Doctor stopped, straining his ears at the sound of a phone ringing. "…you?" he finished slowly. "Is that yours?"

"Not mine," Mickey said.

"Me neither," Rose replied.

"Must be yours," Mickey said.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ricky," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes. "I don't have… a phone…" He paused again, looking at the door and slowly heading towards it. "No…"

But, impossible as it should have been, the TARDIS phone was ringing.

"Told you it was yours," Mickey said.

"It can't be mine," the Doctor muttered. "This isn't… that's not an actual phone."

"Apparently it is," Rose said, before running after her mum as the older woman ran out.

"Well," Mickey said, "Are you gonna pick it up or what?"

The Doctor hesitated for a moment before putting on a smile and picking up the phone.

"TARDIS phone," he said cheerfully. "This is the Doctor speaking. Now who are you, how did you get this number and how did you call a phone that's not a phone?"

"My line is the only call that can pass through and you know it," a voice said from the other end of the line and the Doctor looked at the phone for a moment in shock before returning it to his ear.

"Professor?" he asked in disbelief.

"It's Spencer now," Spencer said, sounding annoyed. "I told you that already."

"Spencer, yes, right," the Doctor said. "Wow! I haven't heard from you in… too long. Why are you calling?"

"Well, a spaceship crashed into the center of London," Spencer shrugged. "Figured you'd be right in the middle of it."

"Oh." Of course that was why Spencer was calling… he should have known better than to hope the other Time Lord called because he actually wanted to talk to him. "Right, yes, of course I am," he said, forcing the smile back on his face.

"Did you check on the body yet?"

"Not alien," the Doctor replied. "Someone messed up with a pig, stuffed it into a spaceship and made it crash. The tech is definitely alien, though – nothing Earth would have for a good couple of centuries."

"So we've got aliens, who made a spaceship crash on Earth with a fake alien inside?" Spencer asked.

"Pretty much," the Doctor summed it up, looking up as Rose ran back towards him. "Listen, I gotta go, but I'm giving Ricky here your number so that he'll update you."

"I don't work for you!" Mickey called out. "And it's _Mickey_!"

"Shut up and take the number," the Doctor said, handing him a slip of paper. "He'll call you if there's anything new," he added into the phone.

"Thanks," Spencer said. "And… Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Maybe…" Spencer cleared his throat. "Maybe you can call later anyway. You know, even if there's nothing new."

For the first time since he picked up the phone, the ghost of a real smile crossed the Doctor's face.

"I will," he said. "Bye, Pro- Spencer."

"Talk to you later, Doctor," Spencer said, hanging up the call and closing his eyes.

This phone call, although necessary, was a lot more exhausting than he thought it would be. A fake pilot, not fake aliens and the name of one of the Doctor's companions, who now also had Spencer's number.

And talking to the Doctor – actually having a real conversation with him that didn't involve the War, or other Time Lords or anything of that sort. Just the two of them helping to defend Earth from aliens. Just like old times.

It wasn't the best, but it was certainly more than he had hoped for.

He was brought back from his thoughts as a voice spoke from behind him.

"The Doctor?"

Spencer turned around, opening his eyes to see Prentiss looking at him, shocked.

"The Doctor is your friend from UNIT?" she asked.

"Emily, I can explain –"

"Did you remember?"

Spencer paused, looking at her in confusion. "What?"

"Meeting me," she explained. "You _are_ him, aren't you? The Professor?"

Spencer swallowed hard. "Yes," he said, seeing no point in lying as she already figured it out herself.

"Did you remember?" she asked again. "Did you remember meeting me?"

For a moment, Spencer closed his eyes. He vaguely remembered the meeting she spoke of earlier. It wasn't as much a meeting as it was a departure party for the Brigadier, who had decided to retire from UNIT in favor of becoming a teacher.

He knew he met a girl there, and that they talked. But he didn't know her name.

"I didn't know it was you," he finally said. "And I don't really remember what I said when we met."

"Don't you have eidetic memory or something?" she asked.

"Of a sort," he shrugged. "Mostly, it's just the easiest way to explain my Time Lord memory and brainpower."

"Time Lord?" she asked.

"That's… that's what I am," Spencer explained. "What I'm called."

"Are there any more of your… kind?" she settled on the word after a couple of moments of thought.

"Just… Just the Doctor," he said. "Everybody else… they're gone."

"How?"

"There was a war," Spencer said. "The biggest war you could imagine, and then some – the Last Great Time War, it was called."

"What happened?" Prentiss asked.

"The cost of the War became too big," Spencer said. "The Universe was burning, galaxies were burning… so the Doctor ended it all. He… he _killed_ them all."

"So…" For a moment, Prentiss looked confused. "How did you survive?"

"We ran away, when the War began," Spencer explained. "We didn't want to fight it. But I was hit, and my regeneration went wrong."

"Regeneration?"

"It's what we do when we die," Spencer said. "A way to cheat death. That's why I look differently than you remember. But it went wrong… I ended up as a baby."

"So, when we say you're twenty four…" Prentiss started, uncertain of how to continue the question.

"This body is twenty four years old," Spencer said.

"How old are you?"

"Er…" Spencer stretched his brain, trying to remember. He hadn't thought of his real age in quite some time, but he remembered he was a couple of years above the age of six hundred when he regenerated, which meant… "Six hundred and forty three."

"Wow," Emily breathed out. "And to think we joke about you being the youngest… Oh, Spencer – I mean, Professor – I mean…"

"Spencer is fine," he quickly said. "I don't go by 'The Professor' anymore. I left that person behind." He cringed slightly when he remembered the events of that day. "Well, as much as I can, at least."

"And no one else knows?" she asked.

"No one else can know," Spencer replied. "This is important, Emily. You've seen how our teammates are when it comes to aliens, and if word got out that there was another Time Lord that survived the War – and that it's me, no less… I have enemies in galaxies you don't even know exist. If they found out, they'll come after me, and they wouldn't care who they have to kill to get to me."

"Okay," Emily nodded. "I won't tell anyone. But as soon as this whole spaceship-crashing-into-Big-Ben thing dies off… you have some things to explain, mister."

"I will," Spencer promised, before glancing at his watch. "We need to go back inside or the others might come after us."

"Okay," Emily said. "And… Spencer?" He turned around to look at her. "I want lying when I said I worked with UNIT a couple of times. I read your file, and the Doctor's file, to convince myself that I didn't imagine it. I read about all you have done, and I just wanted to say… thank you."

"I didn't do it for gratitude," Spencer told her.

"I know," Emily said. "And that is why you deserve it even more."

* * *

 **A/N: Will you be interested in Prentiss/Reid shipping? This chapter made me think that this story could pull it off, even if only just for a while, but I'd love to know what you think about it. Review/PM me about it and let me know :)**


	5. Christmas, Part 1

**A/N:** **Sorry for the long wait between updates, but apparently all I needed was the Whonniversary to come along and then this came with :) To all those who reviewed at the end of the last story - thank you! I decided that for now this story will not have a pairing, but this might change later on.**

 **For reference, this chapter is taking place during the Christmas Special "The Christmas Invasion"**

* * *

The next couple of months passed in a haze of cases, paperwork and the occasional phone call from the Doctor. At first, Spencer was worried as he was certain the other Time Lord will find his Human life boring. It was a pleasant surprise to find out the Doctor was curious about it – he hadn't lived a long period of time on Earth since his third regeneration and even then, working for UNIT kept things interesting.

The fact that Spencer was living a completely Human, relatively ordinary life was, in his opinion, fascinating.

"Fantastic!" he exclaimed more than once. "Absolutely fantastic! How can you possibly live in a linear order of events? Doesn't it drive you mad?"

"It did, at first," Spencer replied. "Took me a while, but I got used to it. Not like I had much of a choice, really."

Things like that usually threw the Doctor into a long apology, even though Spencer told him, more than once, that it wasn't necessary.

Yes, he was angry. Yes, he was hurt. Yes, at time, he even felt betrayed. But all of that was in the past.

The Doctor, in the meanwhile, seemed to run a much more interesting lifestyle. When he told Spencer about Van Statten, the profiler very nearly lost it.

"Van Statten?" he repeated. " _Henry_ Van Statten? The genius collector who's on the radar of every law enforcement agency in the world? The one who's got the FBI, CIA, MI6, Interpol and UNIT just waiting for him to screw up so they could lock him up for good?"

"Do you know another Van Statten?" the Doctor asked, more than a bit amused.

"He's got a half brother on his dad's side that's currently in a prison in Florida for drug dealing."

"Yes, Spencer," the Doctor sighed. " _Henry_ Van Statten."

The rest of the story led to a tense, almost painful conversation when the Doctor retailed the tale of the Dalek who somehow managed to survive the Time War. Even though both Time Lords agreed that there was no way anyone else could have escaped the War – Daleks and Time Lords alike – it was easy to see neither of them truly believed it.

Another interesting story was how the Doctor found a 51st century former Time Agent turned Conman in the middle of the London Blitz.

"He reminds me of you, sometimes," the Doctor said. "In your past regenerations, at least - this one's pretty shy."

"Shy?" Emily repeated when Spencer told her.

It was Christmas Eve, and neither of them really felt like spending the Holiday with their families – Emily because her mother was attending some political event or another and Spencer because Christmas at Bennington Sanitarium was more than a bit depressing, to say the least. Instead, they met at Spencer's apartment with a bottle of wine, as was the common occurrence in the past couple of months whenever Spencer talked about his past lives as the Professor.

"What does that even mean?" Emily asked. "Why are you shy?"

"Well…" A small blush started rising on Spencer's cheeks, making Emile even more curious than she was before. "Let's just say that my past selves had quite a… _reputation_ when it came to relationships – both at the Academy and afterwards."

"Oh, really?" Emily laughed. "The Professor had it going with the ladies?"

"Er… sometimes," Spencer turned an even deeper shade of red than before, if that was even possible, "When he wanted to, definitely. It was, er… mostly the gentlemen, really."

Emily's eyes widened in shock. "No," she whispered, still smiling. "Really?"

Spencer nodded before quickly adding, "It's not such a big deal on Gallifrey. At least, not as much as it is here. When it comes to arranged marriages, it's still what you'll define as a heterosexual relationship," he added with a scowl, "But other than that, everything's fair game."

"You talk like you know from experience," Emily noted.

"Well, I ran away for a reason, didn't I?" Spencer asked. "My father held a position in the High Council and since I was his firstborn, he wanted me to take over once I was old enough. I was lucky, really," he added. "I knew her from our Academy days, and the contract wasn't even discussed until we were past two hundred years old. The Doctor had a contract ready for him since he started the Academy, and he had a firstborn before we even graduated. Didn't have any others, though," he added thoughtfully. "Said he fulfilled his need for a child and since neither he nor his wife were overly keen on their marriage to begin with, he thinks that's more than enough."

"Did you have any children?" Emily asked cautiously.

"No," Spencer replied. "I ran away before my father sealed the contract. Hitched a ride with an old friend and landed right in time for the 70's to shock me. Didn't know anybody had a worse sense of dress than the Time Lords."

"What did you do here, though?" Emily questioned, confused. "An alien in the 70's? how did you get along?"

"The Doctor worked for UNIT back then," Spencer replied. "And when they realized I was alien, too, they hired me almost instantly. Guess they thought having me on their side was better than –"

He cut off at the sound of his phone ringing, looking curiously at where it sat on his coffee table. Emily quickly reached into her bag, pulling her own phone and checking for any text messages or missed calls.

"Not a case," she said.

"No," Spencer said, taking his phone and looking at the caller ID before pressing the 'Answer' button as fast as he could. "Mickey? What's wrong?"

"It's the Doctor," Mickey said. "He's – he looks different and he's not talking – the TARDIS almost crashed – I think he's unconscious!"

"Slowly," Spencer said. "I can't understand a word you say. What happened to the Doctor?"

"Give me the phone!" a new voice said and Mickey let out a sound of protest before the phone was taken from his hand. "Spencer? It's Rose."

"Rose," he repeated. "You're the one travelling with the Doctor, right? Can you tell me what happened?"

"It's – it's like his face changed!" Rose said and Spencer froze. "There was this bright, golden light and when it died down, he looked different and talked different, like –"

"Like he's a completely different person," Spencer finished. "Rose, the Doctor regenerated – it's what Time Lords do when they're about to die. I promise you, he's still the same man, even if it's hard to see that now. Is he awake?"

"No, he's – he's unconscious."

"Damn," Spencer muttered. While post-regenerative coma wasn't uncommon, it wasn't ideal either. It could last anything between mere minutes and years. "Okay, let him rest. Hopefully, he'll wake up soon, but I'll look for something to speed up the process, in case we need it."

"What are you going to do?" Rose asked. "Are you coming over?"

"I would if I could," Spencer sighed, rubbing his temples. "There's no way I could book a flight on such a short notice on Christmas Eve – at least not without attracting all of the wrong kinds of attention to myself. I'll be available on my phone," he added quickly. "If you need anything, I'm just a call away."

"Okay," Rose said and, hearing she was going to hang up, Spencer spoke quickly.

"Rose?" he asked. "What… what happened? Why did he regenerate?"

"We were in the year 200,100," she said, "At this place called 'The Game Station'. There were… there were Daleks," she breathed out, and Spencer felt his hearts clenching in his chest. "Thousands of them. The Doctor sent me away to keep me safe – I remember being here, on Earth, trying to get back to him… next thing I know, I'm at the TARDIS and he does that regeneration thing."

A million questions ran around Spencer's mind. The first of which was _what_ , exactly, had caused the Doctor to regenerate and the last, but most certainly not least, was what happened to the Daleks – and how did they get there in the first place.

But none of these were questions Rose could answer. As much as Spencer hated it, he'll have to wait for the Doctor to wake up before any of his questions would be answered.

"Okay," he said after a couple of seconds, trying to keep his voice as void of emotion as possible, "Thanks. Keep me posted and call if you need anything."

"I will," Rose promised, and the call ended.

So much for a calm Christmas Eve.


	6. Christmas, Part 2

**A/N:** **Part 2 out of 3 is now up! Tell me what you think of it :)**

* * *

A couple of hours later, Spencer and Emily sat in front of the TV. Spencer had hacked into UNIT years ago, making sure that anything transmitted to them will arrive to him, as well, but right now he wished he hadn't. He swallowed hard and Emily nervously chewed on her nails as they watched the distinctively alien face staring back at them.

"Do you recognize them?" Emily asked, her voice trembling.

"Vaguely," Spencer replied. "I know they're called Sycorax, but that's pretty much it. I don't know anything about their society, what planet they're from, who's their leader –"

"Are they friendly?"

Spencer grimaced. "Earth isn't exactly the center of the Universe," he said. "Not for a couple millennia, at least – there's still centuries until you guys even accomplish proper space travel. The only reason a species like the Sycorax would come here is if something attracted their attention. An energy signature of some sort."

"But Earth didn't send an energy signature," Emily said. "Did it?"

"Earth?" Spencer asked. "No. but the Doctor had just regenerated. That's raw Time Energy at its rarest form and anything that senses that and runs _towards_ it and not _away_ …" he trailed off, letting out a heavy sigh. "I don't know for certain if they're friendly or not," he said. "But my guess is 'not'."

"Looks like we're going to find out," Emily said, nodding towards the TV. "UNIT just received a message."

Spencer leaned closer as who he assumed was the leader of the Sycorax appeared once more and started talking. The more he heard, the deeper Spencer's frown was, and he was so focused on the alien's words that he missed the look on Emily's face.

"Spencer?" she asked slowly. "Er… care sharing what he says?"

Spencer doubled back for a moment before smiling sheepishly. "Sorry," he said. "It's kinda easy to forget that you don't… you know…"

"Speak alien?"

"Kind of," Spencer smiled. "Most of what he says is insults, though. 'Cattle, you belong to the Sycorax…' blah, blah, blah… they seem to have claimed ownership over Earth," he muttered. "Well, that's not going to happen. 'You will surrender or they will die.' Who's _they_?"

"How should I know?" Emily asked. "Kind of the first time I meet aliens, you know."

"You met me and the Doctor," Spencer reminded her.

"It's not the same," Emily waved it off. "The Sycorax are… _alienish_. You're just… not."

"I was born a thousand light years away," Spencer said. "My understanding of humans is mediocre, at best, and that's after I spent twenty five years living as one."

"Okay, I get it, you're alien," Emily said, shaking her head. "What else did he say?"

"Er… 'Sycorax strong, Sycorax might, Sycorax rock…' well, Sycorax sure love themselves."

"So what happens now?" Emily asked. "They can't just take over the Earth… can they?"

"UNIT's handling things for now," Spencer said. "And, despite our differences, I have to say they know what they're doing… most of the time. Also, the Doctor's here and he won't let anything happen."

"The Doctor's unconscious," Emily reminded him. "What happens if he doesn't wake up in time?"

"If he doesn't wake up…" Spencer sighed. "If he doesn't wake up then I'll do it myself. I'll find a way to get to London and instruct Rose and Mickey on what to do until I get there. But I don't want to tell the Universe I'm here and alive if I don't have to," he added worriedly. "We'll just have to wait and see how things go."

"That's it?" Emily asked. "We just… wait?"

"Yes," Spencer agreed, looking back at the television screen, which still displayed the leader of the Sycorax. "We wait."

* * *

In all honesty, Spencer wasn't sure how did things get so bad, so quickly. He received the reply UNIT sent the Sycorax, and couldn't help but feel pride as he read it.

 _"Today is a day of peace for planet Earth. We extend our peace to you, and wish for no war between our species. But we are armed. We will defend ourselves if we are forced to. And we will_ not _surrender."_

Emily had fallen asleep at some point, the stress of the impending alien invasion finally catching up to her. Spencer stayed awake, using any source he could think of to learn everything about the Sycorax without accidently attracting their attention.

Well… almost any source.

It was around one in the morning when Emily stood up. She didn't say anything, her eyes blankly staring forward and Spencer frowned in confusion. The confusion turned to fear when he saw blue light engulfing her head before quickly disappearing.

"Emily?" he asked worriedly, but she didn't reply.

Instead, she stood up and headed out the door, joining others who all climbed up the stairs to the roof. They came to a stop right at the edge, looking as if they were going to jump off any moment.

"What in Rassilion's name…" he muttered, answering his phone as it rang without looking at the caller ID. "Please, tell me you're seeing this, too."

"We are," Mickey said. "So it's not just London, then?"

"Not just London, not just the UK…" Spencer replied. "Mickey, something like this… this is happening all over the world. 'Surrender or they will die.' The Sycorax leader was talking about them. But _why_? What's special about them? Why did they attack some, but not others?"

"Random choice?" Mickey offered.

"Something like that can't be random," Spencer replied. "Hang on, I've got another call. Hello?"

"I'm calling you because you're my residence genius and I'm really scared right now so please tell me you know what's going on because I have no idea, and –"

"Breathe, Garcia, _breathe_ ," Spencer said. "Calm down."

"How am I supposed to calm down when it looks like Derek is going to jump off the roof at any moment?"

"Because there's nothing you can do right now," Spencer replied. "Trust me, I know how you feel. Emily's the same right now."

"Emily, too?" Garcia asked. "But… but _how_? And why them?"

"That's the million dollar question," Spencer sighed. "Wait a minute, I'm putting someone on the line. Mickey?"

"Back to me, are you?"

"I'm connecting you to a call with one of my coworkers," Spencer explained. "She doesn't know about the Doctor or the Professor so if she asks, you're with UNIT. Okay?"

"Lying to your coworkers," Mickey said. "Got it."

"Okay, Garcia meet Mickey," Spencer said with a sigh as he pressed a button on his phone. "Mickey, this is Garcia. You're both good at getting information so let's start. Other than everything we already talked about, what's special about today?"

"Nothing," Mickey said. "Well, it's Christmas, but apart from that –"

"You, my kind British friend, are wrong," Garcia said and Spencer let out a small sigh of relief as he heard her going back to normal. "The Guinevere One was supposed to land on Mars today."

"No, there's something… something else," Spencer muttered. "I'm missing something big. How many people are on the roofs?"

"Wait a sec… a third of the world's population."

"Why them?" he repeated. "Why them, but not others?"

"You have two cases," Garcia said. "Emily and Derek. Do what you guys do – profile the Unsub."

"They're aliens!" Mickey said.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Stop fighting, both of you," Spencer all but bit out.

"Okay," Garcia said. "How do you find a connection between victims?"

"Search for similarities," Spencer replied. "But there's nothing – Derek and Emily have nothing in common. Different genders, difference races. He's from Chicago and she grew up all over the world. Different economy status, different medical –" he cut off, lost deep in thought.

"Spencer?" Mickey asked. "Medical what?"

"Medical records," Spencer sighed in understanding. "Are you guys up on the roofs?" he asked, barely waiting for a respond before resuming. "Ask people around you what's the blood type of the hypnotized people."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

There was silence for a couple of moments before the two came back on the line. "Blood type A Positive," Garcia breathed out.

"Here, too," Mickey said.

"And so are Derek and Emily," Spencer said. "Garcia, what was on Guinevere One?"

"Er…" Garcia typed for a couple of seconds before replying ."Whale song, bird song, spoken greetings in 120 languages, some music, water, wheat seeds and…" she gasped in shock. "A blood sample."

"A type A Positive blood sample," Spencer said. "The Sycorax are using blood control. That's illegal, that's very illegal. But it's _good_!"

"Sorry, not sure I'm following," Mickey said. "How is it good?"

"Blood control's basically hypnosis," Spencer replied, starting to run down to his apartment. "And say what you will, but you can't hypnotize someone to death. Basic survival instinct's too strong. Garcia, keep watching Derek but don't worry – he'll be alright. Mickey, remember the earpiece I sent you a couple of months ago?"

"Yeah?"

"Put it on and get everyone into the TARDIS. I'll call you soon."

"Wait!" Garcia called out. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna do some research," Spencer replied.

He arrived to his apartment and reached into the drawer where he kept the books he specifically avoided looking through earlier, searching it until he found a book written in a language of circles and lines crossing each other. He stared at it for a moment before sighing sadly. It had been over a decade since he read anything in his native language.

"It's time to wake the Doctor."


	7. Christmas, Part 3

**A/N:** **So I had this written pretty much since I uploaded ch2... Sorry I didn't upload, my life kinda became hell in the past month and a half and I only just had time to post...**

* * *

"Mickey!"

Mickey winced as he answered the call that arrived to his earpiece to hear Spencer calling out into his ear.

"Mickey, I found it!" Spencer went on. "The Doctor needs a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin! Tea, he needs tea!"

"Yeah," Mickey muttered, looking around at the spaceship he was standing on. "A bit too late for that. Spencer, the Sycorax… they found the TARDIS. We're on their ship."

"Do you have a chance to negotiate?" Spencer asked and Mickey could hear ruffling of papers from the other end of the line.

"Maybe," he muttered, just as the Sycorax leader declared Rose to be the owner of the TARDIS and, therefore, able to speak for the Earth. "Yes. She's not the owner of the blue box," he said quickly, stepping forwards. "I am!"

"Mickey?" Rose asked, confused.

"Trust me," Mickey replied, tapping his ear lightly to let her know Spencer was on the line before repeating the words the Time Lord said in his ear. "I seek audience with the leader of the race known as Sycorax under Conversion 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

"Permission granted," the man who held the translator said.

Mickey swallowed hard as he moved to stand in front of the leader. "It is an illegal act under article 57 to seed, burn or destroy a fully established Level 5 planet such as the Earth," he said. "Unless, of course, a law was broken – which didn't happen."

"You have threatened to attack us."

"You threatened first," Spencer said and Mickey repeated. "Earth sent the first message at 21:47 London Time, but the Sycorax message that contained the sentence 'Surrender or they will die' was accepted at 21:23."

"Earth had tried to send missiles," the translator told him.

"Not until after you used blood control – which, if I may remind you, is illegal in all but three planets, none of which is Earth," Spencer countered. "You have, essentially, stolen the minds of a third of the Earth's population, and Class 374 clearly states that theft of an artefact of great cultural value legitimizes the use of lethal force to ensure the artefact's recovery."

"You have knowledge not of this world," the Sycorax growled.

"You have knowledge not of this world," the translator repeated.

"We withdraw the permission granted earlier!"

"We withdraw the – hold on, that's English!"

"He's talking English," Harriet Jones repeated.

"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!"

"That's English," Rose said again. "Can you hear English?"

"Yeah," Mickey agreed. "That's English."

"Definitely English," the translator said.

"I only speak Sycoraxic!" the leader called out.

"If I can hear English, then it's being translated," Rose said. "Which means it's working, which means…"

They all turned to look at the TARDIS just as the doors opened, revealing the Doctor who was smiling cheekily.

"Did you miss me?" he asked. The Sycorax used the moment of distraction to crack his whip at Mickey's head, but the Doctor easily caught it and pulled it out of his grasp. "You could have someone's eye with that," he scolded.

"How dare!" the leader called angrily as the Doctor took another Sycorax's staff ad broke it in half.

"You just can't get the staff," he said. "Now, you just wait, I'm busy. Mickey, hello! And Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. Blimey, it's like 'This Is Your Life'. Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin."

"That's what he said!" Mickey blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Who?" the Doctor asked, pausing when he saw the earpiece. "Is that…?"

"Mickey, there's a button at the bottom of the earpiece," Spencer said. "Press it."

"Pressed it."

"Doctor?" Spencer asked, his voice echoing around the air. "How are you?"

"Never better," the Doctor replied. "Bit busy, though. Call you later?"

"You better," Spencer laughed.

"Trace the call," Harriet whispered to her assistant behind him. "Can you trace it?"

"It's impossible," the assistant breathed out. "I can't, they're using technology that shouldn't exist for another century."

"You got this under control?" Spencer asked.

"You bet it."

"Talk to you later!"

"Looking forward to it!" the Doctor laughed, turning to Rose as Spencer hang up the phone. "Now, first thing's first. Be honest… how do I look?"

* * *

It took the Doctor three hours to call back.

As soon as he hung up the phone, Spencer ran back to the roof. It didn't take long before Emily – and the rest of the hypnotized people – snapped out of their trance and realized where they were standing. Spencer pulled Emily away from the edge and into a tight hug.

They went back to his apartment, where Spencer explained everything that happened since she went to sleep, from the message the Humans went and up until the Doctor waking up. Emily listened carefully, sipping on her tea as he talked and asking the occasional question about things she didn't understand.

When he was done, Emily decided to go back home. Even though he couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed, Spencer understood. It was a long night, and she needed time to think everything that happened over.

After she left, Spencer walked back into his bedroom and looked at the books scattered on the floor. With a sigh, he started placing them back at the bottom of his bedside drawer, the news acting as background voices to his work and his phone close by.

The Doctor didn't call before he finished, but Garcia did, multiple times. He didn't answer any of her calls. He knew he couldn't avoid her forever, but he planned to try until he can't anymore.

It was bad enough that Emily knew the truth – not only did it put him in danger, but her knowledge endangered her, as well. His enemies wouldn't hesitate to use her against him, and he refused to put any more of his friends at risk.

When the last book was placed in its hidden place, Spencer looked up at the TV. The reporter just finished explaining, for the fourth time, about the explosion of the Sycorax spaceship.

He hoped the Doctor wasn't the one responsible. He didn't want any more blood on his oldest friend's hands.

His phone rang again and he glanced at it, expecting to see Garcia's name on the screen once more. When he saw the caller ID, he nearly dropped the phone in his haste to pick it up.

 _Incoming: TARDIS Phone._

"Doctor?" he answered. "What happened? Why did the ship explode? Please, tell me it wasn't…" he trailed off, scared at the answer he might receive.

"It wasn't me," the Doctor replied darkly. "That was all Human."

"Who?" Spencer asked.

"Harriet Jones," the Doctor said.

"The Prime Minister?!"

"Not for much longer."

Spencer sighed. "What did you do?"

He could almost hear the Doctor grimace. "I may or may have not asked her assistant doesn't he think she looks tired," he admitted. "It was the fastest way to ensure Britain won't have a murderer for a Prime Minister."

"It was Misogynic," Spencer corrected. "But I'll scold you for that later. What happened? Why did you regenerate? Rose said something about… about Daleks."

"A single ship escaped the Time War," the Doctor said. "Fell through Space and Time. Hid in the darkness. Converted humans for centuries. I found them in the year 200,100. Fought them."

"Did you kill them?"

There was no mercy in Spencer's voice as he asked the question, but there was no bloodthirst, either. The words were coated in a thick layer of apathy, and just a little bit of curiosity. The Doctor wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Not me," the Doctor sighed. "I was going to do it. Send out a Delta Wave, kill all of the Daleks… and all of the Humans on Earth. And die in the process. I sent Rose away to keep her safe but in the end… I couldn't do it. And then Rose came back. She took in the Vortex and came back, killing all of the Daleks, but it was killing her. I had to take it out."

"You transferred it to you and regenerated," Spencer said in understanding.

"She doesn't even remember it ever happened."

Spencer took a deep breath before talking again. "I'm sorry your friend had to go through that," he said honestly. "But… I'm also glad you didn't press that button. I think…" He let out a shaky sigh. "I think one double genocide is enough, don't you agree?"

"The Daleks could have returned," the Doctor told him. "The War could have started again, with only two of us to fight this time."

Spencer thought for a moment, weighing his words before speaking. "A little over a year ago, you told me the War had ended," he said. "But the person you were back then… it wasn't you. It wasn't the Doctor, not really. Rose changed you," he added. "She changed you for the better. Make sure to tell her I said that."

"I will," the Doctor promised, a small smile in his voice. "What about you? How are things on your end?"

"Well, Emily's a bit shaken," Spencer sighed. "Which is understandable, she _did_ go through brainwashing."

Both Time Lords grimaced.

"Yeah," the Doctor said, "That's never nice."

"And I'm pretty sure Garcia knows something's up," Spencer added. "I knew way too much about aliens, even by Earth standards of a genius."

"What are you going to do?"

"Well, I'm not going to tell her," Spencer replied. "I know that much. But if – _when_ she finds out on her own… I'll explain."

"You're a good friend, Spencer," the Doctor said.

"No," Spencer sighed. "I'm a really bad friend. I'm just… a good Human."

"Sure beats being a good Time Lord," the Doctor joked and Spencer laughed. Don't be a stranger, will you? Call every once in a while."

"Pick up every once in a while," Spencer retorted. "And don't get into too much trouble!"

"I make no promises!" the Doctor called back, hanging up before Spencer could protest.

The younger Time Lord smiled, leaning back on his couch. It was clear that it will take a while to get used to this new Doctor, but maybe now that the War wasn't so fresh in his mind, he'll be able to move on.

It was clear that one person had already – unknowingly – made it their mission to make the old Doctor return. Rose was good for him, she really was. Now all it took was for the other Time Lord to realize it, too.


	8. Revelations, Part 1

**A/N:** **Okay, so this episode of the show (Criminal Minds' Revelations from Season 2) Is one of my favorites and least favorites at the same time. this episode is such a good character development for Reid and we get to learn so much more about his past, _but_ it's also basically 45 minutes of my favorite character going through hell, so...**

 **This story is divided to 10 parts, all of which are already written. The plan is to upload a part a day for the next ten days and have the entire story up just in time for the new Doctor Who series, but as we all know, life gets in the way too often and with Passover just around the corner I just might not have the time.**

 **Either way, I hope you'll like this and the twist I added :)**

 _ **Important:** Because of the violent nature of this episode, this story is rated M for violence and drug use._

* * *

The Doctor walked away from River's cell at Stormcage and towards the TARDIS, still more than a bit dazed from the kiss that had just occurred. She seemed not to expect the fact that from his point of view, it was the first time they kissed – not completely surprising as their timelines were out of sync but still interesting as it had meant there were more of these in his future.

He was torn out of his thoughts by a beeping sound, coming to a halt and turning to look at the woman in the cell behind him.

"Okay," he said slowly. "That's not mine."

"No, it's mine," River said, heading towards the desk and picking up an odd-looking device. "You told me – will tell me – to watch over Spencer."

"We only just dropped him off," the Doctor said. "What could he have possibly gotten himself into? Even he doesn't have that much of a tendency for trouble."

"No, that still seems to be a talent reserved only to you," River commented. "This is past Spencer… about four years younger than the one we just saw. February 2007."

"What happened?" the Doctor asked, worried.

"Not sure," River replied. "I don't get much, only the names of the people involved. Spencer, his team, three names that I don't recognize and…" she trailed off in fear, unable to say the last name.

"Who?" the Doctor stressed. "River, _who_?"

"Tobias Hankel," River replied. "Doctor, I know that name."

"Yeah, me too," the Doctor muttered. "I have to go – are you coming?"

"I can't," River said. "It's too early, he doesn't even know me yet."

"I have to go," the Doctor repeated, rushing towards the TARDIS.

"You better save him, Doctor!" River warned.

"I will!" the Doctor called back as he ran into his Police Box, flying away almost immediately as he muttered to himself. "February 2007, Spencer Reid and Tobias Hankel. Come on, Old Girl, please…"

"Doctor?" Amy asked, worried at the Time Lord's strange behavior. "What happened?"

"It's Spencer," the Doctor said. "He's in danger – he's in great danger."

"What?" Rory asked, confused. "We just saw Spencer, he's fine."

"A different Spencer, Spencer from the past," the Doctor explained. "He never told me much about Tobias Hankel, he doesn't like to talk about it." He paused, an odd look crossing his face. "Always said I'd understand one day – and today seems to be that day!"

"What? Doctor, you're not making any sense! Who's Tobias Hankel?"

"He kidnapped Spencer," the Doctor said, not looking up at his companions. "Nearly killed him. Spencer was, quite literally, digging his own grave when his team found him."

"But Spencer's fine, isn't he?" Amy asked. "If we met future versions of him, then he's fine."

"Not necessarily," the Doctor replied. "Time is in constant flux, especially in points like these. His team getting there five minutes later could mean his death and I'm not losing Spencer – I _refuse_ to lose him."

"What are you planning to do?" Rory asked. "Kidnap a federal investigation?"

"If I have to," the Doctor said in all seriousness, landing the TARDIS. "To be honest, though, I hope they'll just cooperate."

* * *

Spencer woke up ties to a chair in what looked like a cabin. His head felt like it was being repeatedly hit by a hammer, his hearts were beating at a rate he was certain would make any human machine explode and there was a horrid smell in the air that seemed to disorient his Time Lord senses. He searched his mind for the Doctor's presence, trying to call out for help, only to find it faded – as if it was out of focus.

He slowly opened his eyes, seeing a man in front of him. At first glance, the man could easily be mistaken as Tobias Hankel – mostly since the looked exactly the same – but on a closer look he could see the difference. Mainly, the confidence this man seemed to radiate.

He blinked a couple of times, another wave of pain rushing through his scull as he remembered what happened at the cornfield. Tobias had Multiple Personality Disorder, and the man in front of him was one of the personalities, taking control.

"They're gone."

Spencer forced himself to focus on the man, his voice shaking as he spoke, "Who are they?"

"It's just me now."

"Who…" Spencer started fearfully, swallowing hard. "Who are you?"

"I'm Raphael."

Raphael. He was the one who killed the victims. Tobias was more than likely the one who made the 911 calls. And then there was the third one, the one from the cornfield… the one who wanted to shoot Spencer…

The pain flared through his head again as the smell intensified.

"What's that smell?" he asked, fighting the urge to retch.

"They're burning fish hearts and livers," Raphael replied. "Keeps away the devil."

Either those weren't fish hearts and livers, or that wasn't a normal fire. Anything that can create smoke which interfered with Time Lord Brainwaves couldn't possibly be from Earth.

And that was a whole different kind of scary than the one he was faced with since he woke up.

"They say you can see inside men's minds," Raphael went on.

Well, that _was_ partially true since Time Lords were naturally telepathic, though he didn't use this specific skill in centuries – and even when he did use it in the past, he never did so unless he absolutely had to.

"It's not true," Spencer said, his voice shaking. "I study human behavior –"

"I'm not interested in the arguments of men," Raphael said. "And you're not even that. Do you know what this is?" he asked, raising a single bullet in front of Spencer's face. The profiler didn't reply so he went on, inserting the bullet to the gun in his hand. "It's God's will."

Spencer shook as the cartridge turned and stopped, Raphael aiming the gun at him. _Russian Roulette._

"You don't have to do this," he all but begged, but it was clear his words didn't mean anything for the man in front of him.

"Now go, sinners, to your God," Raphael declared, and Spencer closed his eyes.

 _Please, not again,_ he thought desperately. _Please, I don't want to regenerate. Not again. Not so soon…_

He didn't open his eyes when Raphael pulled the trigger.

 **Click.**

Spencer allowed his eyes to open once more, seeing Raphael lowering the gun before turning around and leaving. Quickly, he closed his eyes again, searching through the emptiness in his mind to send a message he knew would never reach its target(?).

 _Please… please, Doctor… save me._


	9. Revelations, Part 2

**A/N:** **As promised, part 2/10 of this story today. Let's see if we can keep up to the daily updates here :)**

* * *

"So, what do we do now?" Amy asked, looking around at the corn field the Doctor landed the TARDIS in. "Is this where Spencer is? Do we just… rush in and save him?"

"He's not here," the Doctor said. "It's like… it's like he's not anywhere."

"What do you mean?"

"I should have felt him the moment we landed," the Doctor said, tapping his temple. "I should have felt his presence in here, even if I couldn't lock onto his location. But there's nothing! There's just… silence."

"He's not…" the Doctor started carefully. "He's not dead, is he?"

"No," the Doctor replied. "All of the times you met him are still in his future. If he'd have died, he would have been rewritten out of your memories. He's alive, he's just… hidden."

"And that's bad, right?" Amy clarified.

"It's very, _very_ bad," the Doctor muttered. "There are very few things that can make this happen, and no Human in 21st century Earth should have access to any of them."

"Okay, so I ask again," Amy said. "What do we do now? What is this place, anyway?"

"Tobias Hankel's house," a new voice replied and the trio turned to see a black haired woman looking at them. "We set up base inside – this is where Spence was taken from." She smiled tightly. "I'd say it's good to see you again, Doctor, but considering the circumstances…"

"Emily Prentiss," the Doctor greeted. "You shouldn't be able to recognize me. You haven't seen this body yet – it's far too early for you. In fact," he added, stepping closer to her, "You haven't seen me since you were a kid."

"I saw you last week," Emily explained. "You told me to wait at a corn field at this time of the day. When I asked you for a date you said I'd know when it's time."

"Good to know," the Doctor sighed. "I'll have to remember to do that later. Amy, Rory, meet Emily," he introduced. "She works with Spencer. "Emily, these are the Ponds. I travel with them."

"Nice to meet you," Emily said. "Everyone's here – even Garcia. Like I said, the team set base inside, you should probably come in. Hankel documented pretty much every moment of his life and we could use your brain in reading through it all."

"Wait," Amy said. "We're just… joining the case? Doctor," she added, turning to the Time Lord, "We're going to work with them?"

"Do any of you know where Spencer is?" Prentiss asked, completely ignoring the fact that the question was not directed to her as she looked between the three time travelers. "Didn't think so. Spencer may be alien but Hankel's human, and if there's one thing our team knows best it's how to catch humans."

"Wouldn't your boss mind?" Rory asked.

"Oh, definitely," Emily smirked. "But that's not _my_ problem. It's yours."

With that, she turned around and started walking towards the house. The Doctor, Amy and Rory exchanged a short glance with each other before following close behind.

"Hotch!" Emily called out as she walked in. "Found these three outside when I went to look at the point Reid was taken from. They say they were sent in to assist us in the case."

"Sent?" Morgan asked. "By whom?"

"Head of the FBI," the Doctor said, pulling out his psychic paper. "I'm the Doctor, these are Special Agents Pond and Pond."

"I told Strauss we didn't need any help," Hotch said.

"Well, apparently the people up above disagree," the Doctor replied, making Amy step forward in an attempt to stop an argument from ensuing.

"Look, we're not here to supervise over you, if that's what you're thinking," she said, looking between the six agents in the room. "We're here to help."

"All of us want to find Spencer as soon as possible," Rory added. "Fighting each other won't do any good."

"We can handle ourselves alone," JJ said, her voice shaking.

"Nobody said you can't," the Doctor told her. "But you have to admit… you're all too emotionally invested."

"So are you," Gideon stated simply, turning all heads in the room to his direction. He looked straight at the Doctor. "It's clear your friends know negotiation and peacemaking, but they keep looking around nervously. Probably their first time at an active crime scene, which brings the question of how did they end up as Special Agents."

"Jason," Hotch said in a warning tone, but the other man ignored him.

"But neither of them are even considering walking away," he went on. "They're here because they're loyal to you – loyal enough to do something they're uncomfortable with. Your documents are too good to be forged, so I'd say even though you aren't actual agents you _were_ sent here by a higher authority, though why would the Head of the FBI send three unarmed British civilians to help six qualified Agents on a case is beyond me."

"Wow," Rory muttered, causing Gideon to turn to look at him. "Got to admit… you're good."

"And these are only the things I noticed since you called him 'Spencer'."

-Rory cringed slightly and Amy sighed as Hotch took a step forwards.

"Who are you really?" he asked. "Don't try to lie because I think we proved by now that we'd know."

"These are Amy and Rory Pond," the Doctor replied. "I'm the Doctor."

"But who are you?" Hotch pressed.

A dark look crossed the Doctor's eyes. "I'm the man who can get the Heads of the FBI, CIA, MI5, MI6, Interpol, the American President, the British Prime Minister _and_ her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth to call your personal phone and tell you we're a part of the investigating team, in less than five minutes."

"You're bluffing," Morgan said, and the Doctor turned to look at him angrily.

"Try me."

For a moment, the BAU team leader and the Time Lord did nothing but stare at each other, the tension in the room so thick you could almost feel it vibrate through the air. Amy reached out to grab Rory's hand, a move that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the people in the room.

After what felt like an eternity, Hotch gave a small nod.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"One of you need to give Amy and Rory a full brief of the case," he said. "I know you were in town for a couple of days before Spencer was kidnapped, and we need to understand what made the Unsub break out of his pattern and not kill on the spot."

"Not too much of the bloody details, though," Amy added. "Like you said, we're not exactly used to this sort of things."

"If it's really important in order to understand, you can tell me," Rory told them. "I may not have more field experience than Amy, but I'm a nurse. I can handle a bit of gore."

"What about a lot of gore?" Morgan questioned.

"To save Spencer?" Rory asked, not flinching at the man's hard tone. "Tell me whatever you need."

"I'm going to need access to Hankel's computer," the Doctor said, turning to look at Garcia. "Spencer talked very highly of you, and I know you're one of the best in what you do, but a new set of eyes could never hurt."

"What about the journals?" Prentiss questioned, speaking for the first time since she walked into the room.

The Doctor grimaced. "I was never much of a reader," he said. "That was always Spencer. And, even if I was, you need the information in those journals to profile Hankel, right? I'm not a profiler."

"Come with me," Garcia said, going back into the computer room. "I'll show you what I got. It's not a lot," she added. "Honestly, it looks more like it belongs to a teenager, not a psychopathic murderer."

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully, taking out his sonic screwdriver and fiddling with it, uncertain whether or not it would be a good idea to use it to scan the computer system. Garcia looked at him for a moment before glancing back towards the door and making sure none of the other team members was listening.

"You're the Doctor," she said.

"Yeah, I know," the Doctor muttered absently. "I said it."

"No," Garcia shook her head. "You're _the_ Doctor. Spencer mentioned you during the whole Christmas mess. It was very briefly, but added to the fact that Spencer has a friend in UNIT – and that he gave me the Buffalo password – it wasn't too hard to look you up and find more information."

"What sort of information?" the Doctor asked.

"That you're alien," Garcia replied. "That you're working for UNIT since the 70's. That there's a bunch of pictures all titled 'Doctor', and that while most people would assume it was a title that was passed with time, or that there were several people with this title… it's not, is it? It's all you."

The Doctor smiled softly. If they weren't in the middle of trying to save Spencer's life, and she wasn't working with him, he might have seriously considered taking her as a companion.

"You're very clever," he commented.

"Thanks," Garcia replied. "Worked very hard to get there. How do you know Spencer?" she added after a small pause. "And… how _well_ do you know him?"

The Doctor thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer Garcia's question without lying to her – but also without revealing information Spencer would rather stayed hidden, at least for now.

"I've known him for a long time," he said. "Every single one of my regenerations – that's the different faces – knew him very well. He helped me, quite often. Saved my life, more than once."

"The UNIT file said you're a time traveler," Garcia said. "Did you… did you meet Spencer in the future?"

"I did," the Doctor said. "But it doesn't mean anything. Time can be rewritten, and just because I met older versions of him doesn't mean he couldn't die here."

Garcia nodded, swallowing hard. "I guess we better save him, then," she said, and the Doctor smiled again as he started scanning the computer with his sonic screwdriver.

"Working on it."


	10. Revelations, Part 3

**A/N:** **So I had a super busy exhasting day and I almost forgot I wanted to upload this but it's technically still Friday in my timezone (For the next five minutes, at least) and therefore I am not late :)**

 **Here we have a lot of Spencer and most of the reason I wanted to write this episode in the first place - Flashbacks!**

* * *

Spencer wasn't sure how long had it been since Hankel took him. Whatever it was that interrupted his senses seemed to have a strong effect on his Time Sense, as well, so as far as he knew, it could be anything between hours and days.

He didn't sleep or eat during that time. Time Lords only needed a small hour of sleep every couple of weeks, and though theoretically they _could_ starve, a Time Lord had to be food deprived for at least two days before he started feeling hungry.

He didn't know how long he had been in the cabin. He didn't know how long it had been since Charles arrived, trying to make him confess for his sins and punishing him when he didn't, leaving his body hurting nearly as bad as his head was aching.

What he did know was that the man who had just walked into the cabin, holding a dead animal of some kind, didn't look at him like he was an abomination simply by existing or a sinner who needs to confess.

Instead, the man looked worried.

"You need to eat," he told Spencer, placing the animal on a clear surface by his side.

Spencer hesitated for a moment before speaking. "What's your name?" he asked, deciding that this one, as opposed to the others, won't be angry at him for the question.

"Tobias," the man replied.

Tobias. The original Tobias, the real owner of this body. The one who saved him in the cornfield, the one who called the police to tell them Raphael was going to murder his victims. The one who, just now, went outside to hunt to make sure Spencer won't starve.

"Tobias?" Spencer repeated. "Who was here before?"

He managed to realize by now that the man who was here before was the one who wanted to shoot him at the cornfield. He saw – and felt – that the man won't listen to reasons, begs or screams of pain, but maybe if he knew who it was he could understand better how to avoid making him angry.

"It was probably my father," Tobias sighed, his eyes darting to Spencer's exposed foot, where Charles hit him repeatedly trying to get him to confess. "I'm sorry if he hurt you."

He hesitated for a moment before rushing towards Spencer, taking off his belt and trying it over the Time Lord's arm.

"What are you doing?" Spencer asked in panic, trying to struggle against Tobias' actions. "Don't. Please don't."

He didn't know if Tobias meant good or bad by injecting him with a drug, but it didn't matter. Time Lord biology worked very much differently than Human biology, and while the drug possibly could have no effect on him at all, it could also kill him the moment it entered his bloodstream.

"It helps," Tobias said, pulling out a clear vial and a syringe and preparing it with a dose. "Don't tell my father. He doesn't know they're here."

"Please," Spencer begged, tears of frustration and fear starting to from in his eyes. "I don't want it, I don't want it – please…"

"Trust me," Tobias said calmly as he injected the dose into Spencer's arm. "I know."

 _"Lundi?" a young looking man looked around the field, searching. "Lundi, are you here?"_

 _"Professor!"_

 _The Professor laughed as a young girl threw herself into his arms, throwing hers around his neck in a tight hug._

 _"You've made it!" she said happily._

 _"Of course I made it," the Professor said, carrying Lundi away from the field and towards a house that stood nearby. "It's your first day at the Academy. What sort of brother would I be if I didn't escort my sister to the shuffle?"_

 _"Mother said you won't be able to come," Lundi said, lowering her eyes. "She said you're too busy."_

 _A wave of anger flashed through the Professor and he had to forcibly stop himself from letting it show. He and his step mother may have had their differences, but he didn't think the hag would say or do something that would hurt Lundi._

 _Other than, of course, refusing to refer to the girl by her name since it was neither an Academy Nickname nor a Chosen Title._

 _"I'll always have time for you, Lundi," the Professor promised, kissing the top of his sister's head._

 _"What are the two of you doing?" a voice all but shrieked and the Professor rolled his eyes as his step mother walked out of the house. "Put her down this instant, Professor! She's too old for that sort of thing!"_

 _Lundi looked up in worry. "Am I too heavy for you to carry?" she asked._

 _"No," the Professor explained softly. "Your mother simply believes that since you are old enough to attend the Academy, you are too old to be carried around and should walk, instead."_

 _"She should," the woman declared. "No one will carry her around the Academy Halls, will they?"_

 _"No, they won't," the Professor agreed before nodding at his step mother's direction. "Chemist."_

 _"Professor," she replied tightly. "Made progress in the studies of the Apalapan Extinction yet?"_

 _"No," the Professor replied shortly. "Have you managed to stabilize anti matter in an environment of semi matter?"_

 _"Not yet."_

 _"A pleasure, as always," the Professor said, making Lundi laugh. "Is father present?"_

 _"No," the Chemist replied. "He had Council matters to attend to."_

 _"Father's not here?" Lundi asked sadly._

 _"He'll meet us for the shuffle," the Chemist promised. "Now put her down, Professor. We need to departure in twenty Time Units and she needs to wear the House's clothes. I expect you ready in seventeen Time Units."_

 _"Yes, mother," Lundi said dutifully, heading to her room and leaving the Professor and the Chemist alone._

 _"She'll do well at the Academy," the Professor mused._

 _"I certainly hope so," the Chemist replied. "At least one of the heirs to this House and Lands needs to do well."_

 _The Professor turned to look at her, giving her a stern glare. "I graduated with a triple A score a year early than the rest of my class," he said._

 _"And then what?" the Chemist questioned. "You should be sitting at the Council with your father as we speak, learning to replace him one day. Not burying your head in books about a species you never met - nor will you ever meet."_

 _"How do you know I won't meet them?"_

 _"Oh, stop that nonsense," the Chemist hushed him. "Not just anybody get a Time Capsule. You need to be of an important family and accomplices."_

 _"And I'm not?" the Professor questioned._

 _"You're too important," the Chemist replied. "Even if your sister takes the family place at the Council, they will never give you access to time-space travel. They'll be too afraid you'll never return."_

 _Even though the Chemist's words held nothing but annoyance in them, the Professor smiled._

 _"I'm taking that as a compliment," he said._

 _"You shouldn't," the Chemist bit out. "I knew nothing good will ever come out of you, and you spent the past century proving me right. Trust me, Professor, your name will not be taught about in the Academy books. Your name will barely reach the Book of Houses - and even that will only be as the first Firstborn not to take the family place at the Council in the past millennium."_

 _"I am touched by your belief in me."_

 _"Your sister, on the other hand..." the Chemist went on as if the Professor said nothing. "She will achieve greatness. I can see it."_

 _"If you're quite done," the Professor forced himself not to bite out, "I'd like to go light a candle."_

 _"An outdated, useless custom."_

 _The Professor turned to look at her, his eyes filled with hatred and anger. "It's a custom of my Mother's family," he snapped. "I understand it doesn't mean anything to you, since while you replaced her place in Father's life, you never even bothered to be an active part of mine, but you will_ not _disrespect her."_

 _"She was nothing," the Chemist sneered. "The only thing she ever did was create you, and even you turned out a failure. Turned out weak!"_

 _"I'm far more powerful than you can even begin to comprehend," the Professor replied. "I may be many things, but I am not weak."_

"I am not weak," Spencer repeated, half unconscious in the cabin. "I'm not weak."

"I don't give a damn whether you're weak or strong," Charles replied, looking at him with distaste. "Yell all you want, boy. Ain't no one gonna hear you where you are."


	11. Revelations, Part 4

**A/N:** **Proud of myself for actually remembering to upload... What have I become?**

* * *

The Doctor sat by Garcia's side, both of them typing furiously on the keyboard as they tried to make sense of the results they got when the Doctor scanned the computer with his sonic screwdriver.

They took turns taking breaks, Garcia making sure to eat, drink and take naps and the Doctor making sure to keep an eye on Amy and Rory. The two of them felt like there wasn't much they could do to help, and he wanted to let them know that simply their presence here was helping him more than he could describe.

As the only two people in the house who knew of the Doctor's real connection to Spencer and how the profiler's future effected their mutual friend in the past, they were able to make sure the Doctor stayed focused on the mission instead of starting to wonder 'What if?'

Especially since there was a lot to wonder 'What if?' about.

"Are you getting this?" the Doctor asked, reading through the computer's hardware.

"I am," Garcia replied, double checking the results. "It seems like…"

"But it couldn't…" the Doctor muttered.

"But it is."

"Garcia," Morgan said, walking into the room, "I need you to –"

"Log into the system as Tobias' father?" Garcia asked. "Yup, we're already on it."

"What?" Morgan asked, confused. "How did you know?"

"Software scan showed two accounts on this computer," the Doctor replied. "Tobias' is the first, we've been trying to realize who used the second one so we'd know how to get inside it."

"But now we know," Garcia said. "What's his name again?"

"Charles Hankel," Morgan supplied, and Garcia pressed on two more buttons before the images on the screen changed.

Footage of war, of weapons. People dying and killing, sometimes in the name of God and sometimes just for the sake of killing.

The Doctor didn't know how Spencer could handle seeing the worst of mankind on a daily basis and still want to save them. He could only guess it had something to do with the group of profilers he worked with.

Garcia and the Doctor dived into work immediately, going through every last dark corner of Charles' computer, and feeling thoroughly disgusted. They were only a couple of minutes in when the screen flashed black.

"What happened?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know," Garcia muttered.

"It looks like a signal is coming in," the Doctor said, careful not to press any button as he waited for a footage to appear.

When it finally had, he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Oh, my god," Garcia breathed out.

"Guys!" Morgan called out towards the rest of the house. "Guys! Get in here!"

The Doctor reached a shaking hand towards the screen, studying his oldest friend. "Professor," he whispered, keeping his voice down so that no one would hear.

The rest of the team walked into the room, staring at the screens with shock. As Amy and Rory walked in, the redhead grasped her husband's arm in fear, and they both stayed by the door, ready to leave at any moment if what they saw became too much.

"He's been beaten," JJ said, her voice shaking. "Can't you track him?"

"Hankel's only streaming this to his home computer," Garcia said.

Gideon looked at the screen, an angry frown barely hidden on his features. "This is for us," he said. "He knows we're here."

"I'm gonna put this guy's head on a stick," Morgan muttered.

"Stand in line," Rory said, swallowing hard.

"Why can't you locate him?" Hotch asked.

"He's rerouting to a different IP address every 30 seconds," Garcia said. "I can't track him. Doctor, do you have an idea?" She glanced towards the Doctor only to find him staring at the screen, his fists clenched in fear and fury. "Doctor?"

"Doctor," Amy said, letting go of Rory's hand and moving forward to put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. He tensed, but didn't do anything to shake her hand off. "He's going to be alright," she said soothingly. "We'll find him. But we need your help to do that."

The Doctor nodded, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and aiming it at the screen. His eyes widened and he let out a shaky breath. "There's nothing I can do," he said, giving Amy a look that meant he was going to explain later, when they weren't in a room full of profilers.

Morgan frowned, opening his mouth to ask something when a voice spoke from somewhere outside the frame.

 _"Can you really see inside men's minds?"_ a man asked. _"See these vermin? Choose one to die. I'll let you choose one to live."_

 _"No,"_ Spencer whispered, his voice hoarse.

 _"I thought you wanted to be some kind of savior,"_ the man said.

"You're a sadist and a psychotic break," Spencer replied. "You won't stop killing. Your word's not true."

The man stepped forward, going slightly into frame – though not enough to see him completely. _"The other heathens are watching,"_ he said, and Spencer's eyes darted to the camera. _"Choose a sinner to die, and I'll say the name and address of the person to be saved."_

"I won't choose who gets slaughtered and have you leave their remains behind like a poacher," Spencer said.

In two long strides, the man – who they by now understood was Hankel, or at least one of his personalities – stepped forwards and grabbed Spencer, pulling him up.

 _"Can you really see into my mind, boy?"_ he called out, making Amy jump. The Doctor put his own hand above hers, trying to help her calm down. _"Can you see I'm not a liar?! Choose one to die, and save a life. Otherwise, they're all dead."_

He let go and Spencer fell back into the chair, breathing heavily. _"All right,"_ he finally said, _"I'll choose who lives."_

 _"They're all the same,"_ Hankel replied.

Spencer looked at something outside the camera's view, seeming to weight his options before speaking again. _"Far right screen."_

 _"Marilyn David, 4913 Walnut Creek Road."_

"You got that?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah," Garcia replied, quickly pulling out Marilyn's number.

Gideon pulled out his phone, quickly dialing her. "Marilyn David," he said, "My name is Jason Gideon. I'm with the FBI."

 _"Raphael,"_ Spencer suddenly said, pulling their attention back to the screen just in time to see it turn black again.

Morgan barely waited a moment, storming out of the room and punching the door on his way out.

"I'll go after him," Rory volunteered, leaving before anybody could object.

The rest of the group stood in the room silently for several long seconds before the Chief of Police spoke.

"So now what?" he asked the question nobody wanted to think about. "Wait for a 911 call, and hope we get there in time?"

"We need to find him," the Doctor muttered. "We have to find him. He can't… Spencer can't…"

"He won't." much to everyone's surprise, it was Emily who spoke. "He's a lot stronger than we all usually think he is. He'll be alright."

Gideon sighed heavily. "He's just a kid," he said.

"No, he's not," Amy said. "He's more capable than that. Honestly, you guys should learn to give him the credit he deserves."

"Reid –" Hotch started, but this time it was Garcia who cut him off.

"Reid knows how to handle under pressure," she said. "He's doing this job when not many other could take what we see every day – you guy should know it. He _will_ get through this. He just needs you guys to have a little more faith in him."

She turned to look at the Doctor, giving him a meaningful look. His hearts skipped a beat when he realized he may have not called Spencer 'Professor' quietly enough so that _no one_ would hear.


	12. Revelations, Part 5

**A/N:** **Another Spencer PoV chapter, another flashback! (Writing those was _way_ too fun)**

* * *

Spencer watched, helpless, as Raphael killed a couple. He watched as the police crew had started to arrive, feeling like his hearts were breaking.

He should have saved them. Even if he couldn't, he should have at least tried.

The horrid smell seemed to fill his every being, making it hard to think clearly – or at all. He closed his eyes, trying not to vomit all over himself. He didn't know how long they were closed, but he only opened them at the sound of a name he didn't hear in over 500 years.

 _"Statum."_

It was the Doctor. The Doctor was talking to him through the video camera, though it wasn't the Doctor Spencer was in contact with recently. This one looked and sounded differently, and was significantly younger looking – though he was probably older by age.

Why was the Doctor here? What was he doing at the crime scene? How far into the future was this Doctor from the one Spencer talked to the night before the case, what felt like years ago?

How long was Spencer even in this cabin?

 _"Statum, listen to me,"_ the Doctor said. _"I'm coming for you, okay? I'm coming to get you. Just stay strong."_ He glanced to the side, making sure nobody was listening before adding, _"This wasn't your fault, okay? Remember that._ _ **This wasn't your fault any more than Koschie coming to Earth was.**_ _"_

Spencer's breath hitched in his throat, his wavering will the only thing fighting the tears that threatened to fall. Reading Gallifreyan at Christmas a couple of months ago was emotionally taxing, but he didn't hear it since right before his regeneration when he ran away with the Doctor, refusing to fight, other Time Lords and Ladies trying to kill them.

He was pretty sure he heard the language in his drug-induced dream earlier, but he couldn't recall the details. All he knew was that he was angry at someone, and sad about something. Then, it was gone.

 _"Hold on, Statum,"_ the Doctor added. _"We're on our way."_

Spencer wasn't sure how long had passed since that happened. He zoned out, thinking about the message from the Doctor, about his Academy Nickname. He pondered over the fact that he might never see his oldest friend again.

Later, he would reflect over the fact that the knowledge that his death would make the Doctor the last of their species was what kept him fighting long after his mental strength was lost.

When he zoned back in, Tobias was tying a belt around his arm.

"Tobias," he whispered.

"Sorry," Tobias whispered back, tightening the belt before preparing a syringe. "I had to leave for a while."

"You can leave again," Spencer offered hesitantly, "And you can take me with you."

"My father would be angry."

Spencer swallowed hard. He knew by now that it was practically impossible to convince Tobias to go against his father's will, but he had to try. "Not if he can't find us," he said, knowing full well that Charles will always find Tobias – they shared a body, after all.

"He always finds me."

"If you tell me where we are, my friends will come, and they'll save us," Spencer tried a different tactic, already starting to lose hope himself.

"We can't be saved," Tobias stated simply, nearing the needle to Spencer's arm.

"We can," Spencer said desperately. "We can. I promise. If you tell me where we are, I'll save us both."

"Listen to me," Tobias said calmly. "It's not worth fighting." Spencer's eyes darted between the syringe and the other man, something Tobias didn't miss. "Tell me it doesn't make it better."

Spencer wanted to say it didn't make it better. He wanted to say he didn't want it, he wanted to try and fight it, to run away.

Instead, he sat silently as the syringe pierced his skin.

 _"You can't do this," the Professor said. "You can't! I won't do it."_

 _"Yes, you will," Kagmar replied. "The Chemist is right, this should have been done decades ago."_

 _"You can't do it," the Professor repeated. "I refuse. I won't cooperate."_

 _"Yes, you will," the Chemist told him. "You are the heir to this House, and as such, you need to make a firstborn to inherit you, when the time comes."_

 _"Just because the two of you married by contract doesn't make it the right way to do things," the Professor told her. "Father, please. I don't want this. If... When I marry," he corrected, "I want it to be with someone I bear feelings to. Like yourself and Mother."_

 _"Your Mother were and I were a once in a millennium anomaly," Kagmar replied. "You know that. Nearly all of your year at the Academy married by contracts."_

 _"But not all of them," the Professor replied. "Some of them didn't - even heirs to well known families."_

 _"Which is exactly why your contract will be with one of them," Kagmar said. "With someone you know, and care about -"_

 _"Care about?" the Professor asked in disbelief. "Father, at the best of times we barely manage not to kill each other."_

 _"Nevertheless, she is someone you know."_

 _"I don't want this," the Professor repeated. "Father, please..."_

 _"We will meet with her parents tomorrow," the Chemist said with an air of finality. "We will discuss the marriage contract with them. You will marry her. And there's nothing you can do about it."_

 _The Professor looked between her and his Father in disbelief before turning to the door. "Watch me," he stated._

 _"Professor!" Kagmar called out after him. "Where are you going?"_

 _"Away," the Professor replied. "As far away from here as I can. I will not marry her. I refuse."_

 _"Professor!" the Chemist all but shrieked. "Return here! Return here this instant!"_

 _"You are not my mother," he hissed. "You never tried to be and you never will be. You don't get to tell me what to do. I owe you nothing."_

 _"Kagmar!" the Chemist called out. "Kagmar, tell him to come back! Kagmar!"_

 _But the Professor was already out the door, not even hearing his Father's refusal. He ran across the golden fields, ran and ran until he reached a House he knew well from his younger days. He opened the door without bothering to knock and ran up the stairs to his friend's room._

 _"You said you're planning to leave," he said as he walked in. "Have you managed to acquire a TARDIS?"_

 _"Hello to you, too, how nice it is to meet you, Professor -"_

 _"I don't have time for this, Master," the Professor said. "Do you have a TARDIS? Did you get one?"_

 _"Yes," the Master replied. "But I was not planning to leave for another five days."_

 _"Can you leave now?" the Professor asked. "Please, Master, I can't stay here. I have to get out."_

 _"Why?" the Master asked. "What happened?"_

 _"My Father and the hag have decided it's time for me to marry."_

 _"Marry who?" the Master asked and the Professor grimaced._

 _"Trust me, you don't want to know," he replied shortly. "Could you do it? Could you leave now?"_

 _"Now?" the Master questioned. "No." The Professor's face fell in despair before the master went on. "Give me thirty Time Units and I'll be ready."_

 _"Thank you," the Professor breathed out. "Oh, thank you."_

 _"Don't mention it," the Master said. "Anything for you."_


	13. Revelations, Part 6

**A/N:** **Another day, another update... Part 6/10, here we go!**

 **And a Happy Passover to anybody celebrating it!**

* * *

The Doctor sat on a chair in Hankel's kitchen, his head cradled in his hands. It had been over 36 hours since Spencer was taken and about twelve hours since the TARDIS landed. They weren't any closer to finding Spencer than they were before, and two more people were dead.

He knew that with every minute that had passed, their chances of finding Spencer alive were rapidly decreasing, and he couldn't help but hope that Spencer, the man who knew every statistic fact by heart, would just this once prove it to be wrong.

"Coffee?"

He looked up to see Gideon standing next to him, two paper cup in his hands.

He knew what was in the man's future. He knew about everything he will go through, and about how he would leave one day. The Doctor helped Spencer deal with his mentor's abrupt departure – the younger Time Lord was so distressed he couldn't even bring himself to read the letter Gideon left for him.

Spencer, in turn, helped the Doctor deal with losing Rose and with Martha's departure. When the time arrived, he helped him understand that what happened to Donna wasn't his fault.

At the end of the day, both Spencer and the Doctor were very much alike. They didn't like endings, and were never quite sure what to do when facing one.

If they wouldn't save Spencer on time, none of these things would happen. Even ignoring how he would have to cope on his own when losing his companions, the Doctor wasn't sure he'll be able to move on if he lost his oldest friend.

But that was neither here nor there, and it certainly wasn't what the Doctor needed to focus on at the moment. Silently, he nodded and grabbed the cup, ignoring the fact that, in less than a year's time, the man in front of him would hurt Spencer beyond what any of the humans in the house could begin to imagine.

"I heard what you told Reid," Gideon said after a couple of moments of silence. "Some of it, at least." He hesitated for less than a moment before adding, "I heard you called him 'Statum'."

The Doctor sighed. He had hoped that Gideon and Hotch, who were standing not far behind him when he sat in front of the camera, didn't hear what he told Spencer. If he'd known they had, he wouldn't have used that nickname from centuries ago.

"I know you want an explanation," he said. "But I'm afraid I can't give you one."

"If it's something about Reid –"

"It is," the Doctor cut him off. "And I know that you think this information will be helpful for the case, but it won't be. I won't lie to you, there are a lot of things you don't know about Spencer, but it's up to him when – and if – to tell you. It's _his_ decision," he repeated. "Not mine. Not yours."

"Then explain what you can," Gideon said. "Look, I know your type. When all of this is over and Spencer is back, you'll just gallivant away. We're the ones who'll have to help him move on once you go away."

The Doctor stood up, taking a step closer to the human in front of him. "Don't dare to assume you know anything about me, about Spencer, or about our friendship. This is infinitely more complicated than you can even begin to comprehend."

"So you're a genius, like Reid," Gideon concluded, only making the Doctor's anger to flare even more than before.

"No," he said. "You will _not_ try to profile me. You won't do it because you can't do it without profiling Spencer – and, yes, I know about your no-profiling rule."

"I, unlike you, know to put the line between professional and personal."

"Really? Which one is this?" The Doctor stared the profiler down, noting with respect and slight annoyance that he didn't back down. "Here's what I'll tell you. I've known Spencer for since we were both very young. We had nicknames. His was Statum. Anything beyond that, you'll have to ask him."

"How do you know him?" Gideon inquired. "How did you meet?"

"I told you," the Doctor said through gritted teeth. "You want to know anything else, you'll have to ask him!"

"Who are you to him?" Gideon went on, ignoring him. "Who is he to you? Did you have more friends with nicknames like that? What was yours? What was the meaning of his?"

"If you're seriously keep asking after what I told you, you're either an idiot or a bad friend," the Doctor sneered. "This isn't my story to tell – though, frankly, I wouldn't tell you even if it was. This is Spencer's, and this is about Spencer. Respect that. Respect his privacy. Or, if you don't," he added when Gideon opened his mouth to retort, "At least pretend you do."

He turned around, walking out of the room to find Hotch sanding by the door, having obviously heard every word.

"What was that all about?" the profiler asked.

"I thought you had a code against profiling your coworkers," the Doctor said as reply.

"You're not our coworker," Hotch noted.

"But Spencer is. He is not the Unsub here, he's the victim, and while I understand you're upset he didn't tell you about Amy, Rory or me, that gives you no right to dig into his life."

"Doctor!" Rory's voice suddenly called out in distress. "Doctor, come here, now!"

The Doctor didn't hesitate, running back into the computer's room just in time to see Hankel moving to stand right in front of Spencer, partially blocking his view from the camera's sight.

 _"This ends now,"_ Hankel's voice said. _"Confess your sins."_ Spencer didn't say anything, making Hankel punch him right in the jaw. _"Confess!"_

 _"I haven't done anything,"_ Spencer cried, and Hankel punched him again. _"Tobias, help me."_

 _"He can't help you,"_ Hankel said. _"He's weak."_

 _"Tobias,"_ Spencer let out just before another blow arrived.

As Hankel moved to step next to Spencer, holding him by the hair to keep his head up, the Doctor felt his hearts clench. Next to him he could hear Garcia's shaky intakes of breath as she tried to hold back tears and feel stress rolling off Gideon in waves. Rory seemed to want to run away, stop seeing this, but his eyes were fixed to the screen as he was unable to look away.

 _"Confess your sins,"_ Hankel said, but Spencer didn't reply.

When Hankel pushed Spencer back with one swift movement, the Doctor jumped forwards.

"No!" he called out, as if his words could make a difference – as if Hankel could hear them.

"Oh, my god," he heard Garcia say next to him. "He's killing him."

"Doctor?" Rory asked carefully. "Doctor, shouldn't he…? He… how can he…?"

The Doctor didn't say anything, staring at the screen and waiting for the signature golden energy of regeneration. Even long after Spencer stopped convulsing on the floor, and Hankel said something beyond his understanding, he kept waiting, staring at the screen unblinking.

He felt, rather than saw, Gideon leave the room. He was vaguely aware of Rory running out, probably to find Amy. He knew Garcia was still there by his side, wanting to ask something but too scared to bring it to words.

He kept waiting for a golden light that never came.


	14. Revelations, Part 7

One of the most unique traits of Time Lords is the regeneration cycle. Starting out as an anomaly caused by prolonged exposure to the Time Vortex, it took some time before evolution brought it to be the basic survival instinct most knew it as in present times. And, as other basic survival instincts, regeneration isn't a conscious decision.

At least, not completely.

There were only three ways to stop regeneration from ensuing – or, at least, that was what the teachers at the Academy said when they taught the subject.

The first was to consciously stop the regeneration energy from releasing. Those cases were few and far in-between, partly because a Time Lord had to possess great control and be conscious in order to keep the energy at bay, but mostly because for most, the mere suggestion was unimaginable. For someone to consciously refuse to regenerate was equivalent to committing suicide.

The second way was if the Time Lord in question induced a second lethal hit while the energy was building up. This was, too, almost unheard of – until the War when the Daleks used this to their advantage in every twist and turn.

The third one was slightly more common than the two that preceded it, but not by much. If a Time Lord was beyond saving – whether by one of the few diseases Time Lords weren't immune to or by a certain kind of poison – their body won't set the regeneration into motion. It was said that in those cases, their energy would find its way back to the Vortex, existing there until the end of time and all things.

The third one was also the only one Spencer witnessed personally. It was back when he was just a Time Tot, a few months before he was taken for initiation. He wasn't the Professor yet – technically, he wasn't even Statum yet.

He sat at his mother's bedside, his biological mother. Kagmar left a long time ago, unable to keep watching her in that state, but he stayed, occasionally lighting a candle to make sure there were always four of them around her bed.

He sat there, alone, not even eight years old as his mother's breaths became slower and fewer. He and Kagmar didn't talk about it later, so he never shared with anyone what he saw when the last breath left her mouth and her hearts stopped. Nobody but him knew about the golden trail of energy that left her mouth and divided into four, each of the parts attracting into one of the candles.

More than once, in the centuries that followed, he wondered what it felt like – if it hurt, if it brought relief. Later on, he wondered if it felt similar to what regeneration felt like.

When Charles pushed his chair down, his head hit the ground. Immediately, he felt his vision blurring and darkening, he felt himself convulsing, struggling for air, dying. There was no familiar buildup of regeneration energy inside him and he thought maybe now, he'd know what his mother felt in her last moments.

What he didn't think when he closed his eyes for what he believed to be the last time was that there would be a bright light, voices whispering soothingly, and then pain as he was brutally dragged back to life.

Everything hurt when he came back to. Both of his hearts stopped when he died – if it can even be called that – but only one was functioning right now. Tobias was next to him, clearly being the one who performed the CPR to bring him back.

If this was what it felt to have only one functioning heart, he didn't fully appreciate his second one until this very moment.

He opened his eyes, still lying on the floor, and caught what he thought was a tombstone at the corner of his eye. Before he could think about it further, the man next to him stood up and observed him from above.

"You came back to life."

This was clearly not Tobias anymore. Spencer may have not known how long it had been since he was taken, but it was long enough for him to know the difference between the three personalities who shared Tobias' body.

"Raphael," he breathed out.

"There can be only one of two reasons," Raphael went on, ignoring him.

"I was given CPR," Spencer tried to explain, even though he knew the 'Angel' would ignore him completely.

"There are no accidents," Raphael declared, and Spencer closed his eyes again as the thick scent in the air messed with his brain once again.

With his brainwaves interfered, his body exhausted at the abuse it had been going through and one heart down, Spencer was amazed that he was even able to focus on what Raphael was saying. Desperately, he tried to send another message to the Doctor, to tell him about what he saw, but even though he wasn't as blocked as before he still wasn't able to get through.

"How many members are on your team?" Raphael questioned. "The 7 angels who had the 7 trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first sounding followed hail and they were thrown to earth."

Raphael was under the belief that this was Revelations. In his mind, he was killing the sinners, the wrongdoers… there were two people – if one might call them that – that were the biggest sinners in the universe, that did more wrong than a single human mind could even begin to conceive.

And, as much as he would have happily accepted death, something told Spencer it was a bad idea to let Raphael know he was one of those two.

Raphael pulled his chair back up, and Spencer closed his eyes. The smell was stronger up here, thicker somehow. He wanted to vomit, but he was too tired to move his head, let alone retch.

"Tell me who you serve," Raphael demanded.

 _I serve no one,_ Spencer thought. _No one but myself._

He didn't serve his father when Kagmar commanded him to do one thing or another. He didn't serve the teachers at the Academy, often getting into trouble for disobeying. He didn't serve the Time Lords, going as far as to run away when the War had begun, an action which led him to where he was now.

Even when his human parents took him to church on Sundays, he never served God. If there was a God, and he caused Deanna to go through everything she went through, he didn't want to believe in him. The only thing he could honestly say he believed in was the power of the candles his mother taught him about, and even that was partly because he had seen it firsthand.

He believed in very few things. He had faith in a small number of people, and trusted not many more.

But he served no one. No man, no God, no species and no other power.

However, if he told this to Raphael, he'll be dead on the spot.

"I serve you," he lied, hoping to, at the very least, live just a little longer.

He didn't think he would make it for much longer. His body was barely functioning as it was and his second heart seemed to be slowly failing. He was about to die again, very soon. And this time, he might not be brought back.

Raphael looked at him for a moment before speaking again. In the seconds that passed, a million different scripts passed through Spencer's mind in regards to what he could say, and how should Spencer react.

None of them prepared him for the words that left his mouth.

"Then choose one to die."


	15. Revelations, Part 8

**A/N:** **This chapter was emotionally exhausting.**

* * *

 _"Then choose one to die."_

The Doctor didn't think he would be too far off if he said that the room was so quiet one could hear a pin dropping to the ground after Hankel – Raphael, Spencer called him – spoke.

 _"What?"_ Spencer asked, clearly as shocked and scared as the rest of them.

 _"Your team members,"_ Raphael said. _"Choose one to die."_

 _"Kill me."_

The Doctor felt his hearts breaking as Spencer spoke. He always made sure to distinguish between the Professor and Spencer, knowing that much like Statum they were very different versions of his oldest friend, but the three were never as similar as they were now.

 _"You said you weren't one of them,"_ Raphael accused.

 _"I lied,"_ Spencer said simply, and the Doctor knew they both understood he was closer and closer to sealing his fate with every word that came out of his mouth.

Amy fell to the floor, her legs unable to hold her up any longer, and Rory kneeled by her side, hugging her tightly. They both closed their eyes, but they couldn't stop themselves from hearing what was being said.

JJ pressed her hands to her mouth, trying to hold back tears, while Garcia gave up altogether and let the salty water make trails on her face. Prentiss looked like she was going to be sick. Hotch was struggling to keep himself together. Morgan looked more heartbroken than anything else, his feelings on the matter clearly very similar to the Doctor's – the Time Lord knew Derek was very close to Spencer, and that they would only grow closer in the years to come.

Only Gideon seemed almost indifference – that was, if the Doctor couldn't physically feel every emotion that was rolling off him in waves.

 _"Your team has six other members,"_ Raphael said. _"Tell me who dies."_

 _"No."_

Wordlessly, Raphael pulled a gun out of his pocket. He turned the cartridge, and it was clear to everyone in the room what he was doing as he aimed it right between Spencer's eyes.

Russian Roulette.

 _"Choose,"_ Raphael ordered, _"And prove you'll do God's will."_

 _"No."_

Everybody held their breaths as Raphael pulled the trigger.

 ** _Click._**

 _"Choose,"_ Raphael repeated.

 _"I won't do it."_

 ** _Click._**

 _"Life is a choice."_

 _"No."_

 ** _Click._**

 _"Choose."_

The Doctor closed his eyes. Spencer's odds were so small right now, and for some reason his regeneration cycle wasn't properly functioning. If the next pull of trigger will release a bullet, Spencer won't make it. He'd be dead, for good.

This couldn't be happening. He couldn't lose Spencer, not when he was already certain he lost him once today.

 _"I…"_ Spencer started, and the Doctor was certain this was it, this was when his oldest friend was going to die. _"I choose the Doctor."_

Every person in the room turned their heads to look at the Doctor, studying his response. Spencer's team members, even Amy and Rory were curious as to how the Time Lord will take the fact that his oldest friend had just put him up as sacrifice.

The Doctor didn't acknowledge their looks, instead opening his eyes and looking at the screen.

 _"What?"_ Raphael asked in disbelief.

 _"You want a sinner?"_ Spencer asked. _"You won't find a bigger one. He's a killer and a thief, an adulterer. If I start telling you of all the sins he committed, we'll be here until tomorrow. But that's not why I'm telling you to kill him. That's not my reason,"_ he added darkly.

 _"What is?"_ Raphael questioned.

 _"I'd like to see you try."_

The Doctor felt like a ton of bricks were taken off his shoulders, and if Spencer wasn't still stuck Rassilion-knows-where with this madman, he might have let himself relax.

 _"I want to see you go after him,"_ Spencer went on. _"I want to see you try, because I know you won't succeed. I was never much of a believer, and there are little thing I have faith in, but I trust him."_

 _"Careful what you speak, boy,"_ Raphael warned. _"Your words are blasphemy!"_

 _"Then so be it,"_ Spencer said. _"Doesn't change the fact that I do. I trust him. Always have, always will. I trust him because that's what Lundi would have done,"_ he added, and the Doctor felt his heart clench at the sound of a name he hadn't thought about in centuries. _"And even if you kill me, I will die in peace,"_ Spencer said, looking right at the camera – right at the Doctor. _"I will die in peace knowing I will be buried by her side."_

The Doctor didn't wait a moment, all but running out of the room. He needed to clear his mind, he needed to think because if he wasn't wrong – and he was quite certain he wasn't wrong – Spencer had just solved his own kidnapping case.

"Doctor!" Amy called out, running after him. "Doctor, wait!"

 _"You want a sinner? You won't find a bigger one."_

 _"I want to see you try, because I know you won't succeed."_

 _"I trust him because that's what Lundi would have done."_

 _"I will die in peace knowing I will be buried by her side."_

"Doctor," Amy breathed out, finally reaching him. "Don't – he said your name because he believes Hankel can't kill you."

"No," the Doctor said. "He said my name for a whole different reason. Oh, he is brilliant!"

"Doctor?" Hotch asked, walking into the room with the rest of the team in tow. "What is it?"

"What was wrong about what Spencer said?" the Doctor asked, looking between them. "Come on, he's your friend – you know it. I know you do. It's even written in his files. No? Nobody? Come on," he added, turning to Prentiss. "You know this. I know you do. I know he told you."

"He…" Prentiss started carefully, going over what Spencer said in her head before her eyes widened. "Oh, my God."

"What?" Morgan asked. "Emily, what is it?"

"'I will be buried by her side'," she quoted. "That makes no sense." She turned to look at Gideon and Hotch. "You read his files, you know better than everyone…"

"Reid wants to be cremated post-mortem," Gideon said in understanding.

"It's more than that," the Doctor said. "He mentioned Lundi, and how he'd be buried next to her."

"So?" JJ said.

"So," the Doctor explained, "Lundi was never buried. There was…" he swallowed before resuming. "There wasn't enough left of her to bury."

She burned in fire and smoke when he destroyed Gallifrey. She perished along with the rest of their people, at the end of the biggest War to have ever rage the universe. The Doctor shook his head slightly, throwing the thought away.

"Why would he mention it twice?" he questioned. "Lundi was never buried, and he never wants to be buried, so why would he mention burial twice?"

"You think he's in a cemetery?" Hotch asked in understanding.

"I think it's worth a shot to check," the Doctor said. "Garcia, how fast can you get us the location of every graveyard in the radius we marked?"

"Already on it," Garcia said, and the group couldn't help but share a small, nervous smile.

They just might be one step closer to finding Spencer.


	16. Revelations, Part 9

**A/N:** **One to last chapter... I'm so excited!**

* * *

Spencer was barely aware that there was a shift between the personalities until one of them kneeled by his side, preparing a syringe.

"Tobias, is that you?" he asked, barely able to turn and look at him. "Thank you," he said. "You saved my life."

"I'm sorry," Tobias replied, avoiding Spencer's eyes.

"Why?"

"He'll win in the end."

Spencer swallowed hard, looking at Tobias for a long moment before he dared to speak again.

"Tobias, I need to know something," he started carefully. "It's important. Are we in a cemetery?"

"Yeah," Tobias said, and Spencer felt like he just might pass out from joy right then and there. "I used to come here to get high."

"I was right," Spencer muttered, almost unaware that he was speaking aloud.

"No one bothers you here," Tobias went on, having not heard what Spencer said. "I never told anyone about it."

Spencer let out a small smile before the syringe was inserted into his vein again.

 _"Master."_

 _The Time Lord in question looked up at his friend, an odd look crossing his face._

 _"Professor," he greeted. "What brings you here?"_

 _"You know what brings me here," the Professor replied. "Stop it. Stop this madness. Please, you don't have to do it."_

 _"I know I don't have to," the Master said. "I want to."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Why?" the Master repeated. "Why would I want to gain control over the universe?"_

 _"Yes," the Professor said. "Please, Master... you don't need this. We could just get into your TARDIS, fly away... See the universe. Just the two of us."_

 _"Why should I settle for seeing planets when I can reign them?"_

 _"Because I'm asking you," the Professor all but begged. "Because I am properly asking you - just stop. Just think. We could have what we always wanted. You and me, together, against the rest of the world."_

 _"But we are not together against the rest of the world, are we?" the Master questioned. "You joined the Doctor and his pack of Humans. You spend the past months fighting me."_

 _"I don't want to fight you," the Professor told him. "I don't ever want to fight you."_

 _"But you have," the Master said simply. "You have made your choice. And now, I make mine."_

 _"Master..." the Professor muttered. "_ Koschie _... Please..."_

 _The Master took a step closer. "Say that again."_

 _"Koschie," the Professor breathed out. "Koschie, please..."_

 _"I always liked to hear you beg," the Master whispered in his ear. "You know that, don't you?"_

 _"Yes," the Professor muttered. "Koschie, please..."_

 _"But," the Master added, "You also know that begging doesn't always work. Take him out," he ordered the guards, who grabbed the Professor and all but threw him out the room._

 _"Koschie!" the Professor called out._

 _"You betrayed me!" the Master told him. "You promised me we'll stay together but as soon as we landed you ran away with the Doctor!"_

 _"I didn't run away with him!" the Professor replied. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't let you do what you're trying to do."_

 _"You lied to me!"_

 _"I'm sorry!" the Professor said as he was dragged out. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

"I'm so sorry," Spencer cried. "I'm so sorry."

"What are you sorry for, boy?" Charles asked.

"I betrayed him," Spencer replied. "He trusted me and I betrayed him."

"Who?"

"Koschie," Spencer muttered. "I lied to him... I loved him... and he loved me. And I used that against him."

Pure rage crossed Charles' eyes as he glared at Spencer.

"Is that a confession?" he asked.

"I confess," Spencer replied, too tired to fight anymore.

"You know your bible," Charles said. "Leviticus 20:13."

Spencer took a deep breath before reciting, "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

"Are you guilty?" Charles asked.

"Yes," Spencer breathed. "I am guilty."

Slowly, Charles neared him and took off the handcuffs Spencer's hands were bound in since he was taken. He stood up, and Spencer couldn't say he had the strength to do anything but look up at him as the man spoke.

"Grab a shovel."

* * *

The Doctor all but forced Amy and Rory to stay behind with Garcia at the house and wait for news, telling them it would be safest that way as well as asking them to delete certain pieces of information from the computer.

"It's too soon for Spencer to recognize that name," he said. "I'll tell him eventually, but for now… it's best he doesn't know."

"Doctor…" Rory said carefully. "I recognize that name."

"Me, too," Amy said. "Isn't that…?"

"Yes, it is," the Doctor said, heading out. "But if Spencer knew it, too many people would die."

And so he left them with the quite difficult mission of distracting Garcia long enough to insert the flash drive he gave them into the computer while he joined the rescue. He was less than half a step behind the BAU team, only stepping back because he was unarmed.

The closer they got to the cabin at the center of the graveyard, the harder it was for him to think properly. He didn't argue when Hotch signaled him to pause when they reached the door, allowing the team to do what they did best.

"Go!" Gideon called out, and it was all Morgan needed to kick the door down and run in, gun in the air.

"FBI!" he called out, and the Doctor waited until he heard the all-clear before stepping inside, only to step back out almost immediately.

Karovian smoke, one of the only things that had the ability to interfere with Gallifreyan minds and block access to the natural psychic link all Time Lords shared. The Doctor didn't see this sort of technology since the War, when the Dalek Emperor took control over the Cruciform. It was right in the last days of the War, and it was then that the Doctor realized there would be no choice but to kill all sides, as it was the only way to make the fighting stop.

Just a few seconds in the room with the smoke and the Doctor knew his psychic link won't work properly for at least half an hour. To think Spencer was stuck in that room for nearly three days… it would take days before he would be able to connect to the Doctor telepathically and weeks, at best, for his mind to be his again.

"Let's spread out," Hotch said, walking out of the cabin. "They have to be on foot. Let's go!"

The Doctor started walking deeper into the forest around them, uncaring that he was alone and weaponless. His sonic screwdriver was on, scanning for non-human life forms when he heard a gunshot.

He didn't waste a moment in running towards the sound, thinking that if Hankel killed Spencer he would tear the man from limb to limb.

Instead, he saw Spencer on the ground, very much alive, as Hankel breathed his last.


	17. Revelations, Part 10

**A/N:** **Gah, I can't believe I forgot to upload yesterday... Had a super-busy day and only remembered I had to upload when I was already half asleep...**

 **Anyway, this is the last part of the story, it's mostly wrapping up things from last chapters, but also a bit of a sneak peak towards the next couple of stories...**

 **Tell me what you think!**

* * *

The Doctor didn't say anything, but it seemed like Spencer didn't need him to talk in order to know he was already there. He looked up, and the Doctor nearly cringed. The only time he saw him looking worse was during…

But that was long into the future for this Spencer, even if the string of events which led to it had already started to unfold.

"Doctor?" Spencer croaked out in disbelief.

"Spencer," the Doctor breathed out, feeling true relief for the first time since he put River in her cell what felt like years ago.

"Doctor…"

The Doctor fell to his knees, knowing that standing was a bit beyond what Spencer was capable of at the moment, and wrapped him in a tight hug. Spencer reached out shaking hands, grasping the back of the Doctor's jacket and pulling him closer, the two Time Lords holding on to each other like a lifeline.

It was like that that the BAU team finally found them about a minute later, Hotch quickly helping the Doctor to pull Reid to his feet.

"Let's get you out of here," Gideon said, carefully reaching out for Spencer's hand. "You need to see a doctor."

"No…" Spencer muttered. "Doctor…"

Morgan swallowed hard, forcing a small smile on his face. "I know you hate hospitals, pretty boy," he said. "But you need to see a doctor."

"Doctor…"

"He means I'm his Doctor," the Doctor cut in. "It's more than just a name, you know."

"You've got a medical license?" Prentiss questioned.

"I have a medical license to take care of Spencer," the Doctor said, giving her a look that said a lot more than his words did. "I can cut his recovery time in half with the equipment I have."

"Koschie…" Spencer muttered, barely coherent, "And Lundi…"

The Doctor swallowed hard, overly aware that everyone were listening. "Let's get you out of here," he said. "I'll take care of you, Spence."

* * *

Three Earth days had passed in the TARDIS before Spencer woke up – not that he knew it at the time. All he was aware of was that he wasn't as sore as before, though he was still covered in enough bandages to wrap a mummy, that he was thirsty and hungry, and that he needed a fix.

And soon.

He groaned as he forced his eyes open to see the Doctor sitting at his bedside, his expression grim. When he saw Spencer woke up, his expression darkened even more, and Spencer got waves of worry and anger rushing through the natural psychic link that kept the two of them connected.

Rassilion, how he had missed not being alone in his brain.

"Good morning," the Doctor said as Spencer forced himself up to a sitting position. "You… you slept for quite some time."

"How long?" Spencer croaked out.

"Three days," the Doctor replied. "Well, _technically_ you only slept for 64 hours, but…"

"That's a long time," Spencer frowned. "Usually I heal faster than that. Then again, I don't believe I was ever this bad without regenerating."

"You also weren't ever under the influence of a powerful pain medication that is only slightly better than morphine when you were this bad."

Spencer winced slightly at the Doctor's sharp tone. _Well,_ he mused, _that seemed to clarify quite clearly how much the Doctor knows. Unless…_

Unless he also knew about the rest. Unless he knew that Tobias Hankel died with two vials of the drug on his personal, but that the FBI won't find them.

Judging by the fact that Spencer was currently not wearing his clothes, but the Med-Bay cloak that always connected in his brain to healing much better than Human hospitals ever did, the Doctor knew everything that there was to know.

And Spencer needed out.

"Well," he started carefully, "If it's all the same to you, I think I'd finish my recovery back home. About two months away from office should be enough for Hotch to clear me back into the field – I think I'll tell them I spent the first with you, so if you could just drop me a month after we left –"

"No."

Spencer swallowed. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," the Doctor replied. "Not until I know for certain that all remains of the drug are out of your body."

"You don't get to decide what I do!"

"As your doctor –"

"You're not an actual doctor, _Theta_!" Spencer snarled. "And you don't have a say over what I do, or don't do!"

"This drug is highly dangerous –"

"It doesn't affect me like it affects Humans –"

"No, it only set back your healing by two days and stopped you from regenerating when you died in the cabin!" the Doctor called out. "I thought I lost you, Spencer! I thought you had died, for good! That I was alone!"

"Well, boo-hoo! Maybe if you hadn't killed the _rest of our species_ it wouldn't have been a problem!"

The Doctor stepped back in shock at his friend's words. "Spencer, I… I had no choice. I thought you understood that by now."

"Koschie's dead," Spencer said simply. "And so is Kagmar. Even the Chemist and Ushas, who I never thought I'd grieve, are dead. Lundi's dead, Doctor," he said, and the two Time Lords felt each other's pain, as raw and bare as the day in which it was created. "Lundi's dead, and I can't bring her back. So, if it's all the same to you, I think I'll do what I can to forget it. At least if something goes wrong, I know I'll join her."

With that, he pushed the blanket from over him and stood, wobbling slightly as his feet learned to bear his weight. With a single, long stride, he was in front of the Doctor, reaching out to his pocket and taking back the vials he stole from Tobias' body.

"Ever so predictable," he mocked, storming out of the room and towards the Console Room.

"Spencer!" the Doctor called out after him once he recovered from his shock, reaching his friend just as the younger Time Lord open the TARDIS door to reveal a back alley of a street in Vegas, a couple of days after the Tobias Hankel mess was over. "Spencer, wait!"

"Leave me alone, Doctor," Spencer said, walking out without sparing him a glance. "Just… just leave me alone."

The sound of the door slamming shut brought Amy and Rory into the room, the two of them sharing a grimace.

"I guess that this conversation didn't go as planned?" Rory asked.

"I don't know what to do," the Doctor admitted. "He… he's killing himself, and I…"

"There's nothing you can do," Amy told him softly. "We know he'll get through it, on his own. It's just a matter of time."

"Does he have time?" the Doctor asked. "His judgement is flawed at the moment, his emotions bared. He lost everything he ever cared for – he lost the one person he would give the whole universe to – and I'm the one to blame."

"But he doesn't blame you," Rory said. "At least, he doesn't when he's not going through withdrawal." The Doctor nodded and Rory took it as a sign it was safe to approach the next unpleasant topic on hand. "Doctor, about the files we deleted from the computer… you said you'd explain."

"Now isn't really the best time," the Doctor said.

"There isn't such a thing as the best time when it comes to things like this."

"Doctor," Amy cut in. "We… we knew that name, both of us did, and you said you'll explain. What does _he_ have to do with Spencer?"

"Everything," the Doctor sighed. "He always had everything to do with Spencer. Since before Spencer was even 'Spencer' – since before he was the Professor."

"But why would he send that message to Hankel?" Amy pressed on. "Why would he make Spencer a target like this – telling Hankel just what to do to affect Spencer in ways that wouldn't work on humans?"

"Because the more broken Spencer is, the easier it would be for _him_ to stir him to do his will," the Doctor replied, sighing heavily. "You need to remember that through everything and despite it all, Harold Saxon was always – and will always be – a mad politician."


	18. After the Battle

**A/N: This one was so hard to write... and yet, so satisfying :)**

 **Just one part this time, hope you like it!**

 ****Reposting because ff net is working again :)**

* * *

The day after the event that news reporters had already started referring to as 'The Battle of Canary Wharf', Spencer walked into the bullpen area with shaky feet.

The Doctor wouldn't return any of his calls, and whenever he tried calling Rose or Jackie, he received a message saying the number was offline. Jackie and he had been in contact over the past couple of months, since the ghost shifts started. Spencer himself didn't see any ghosts, but nearly everyone around him did.

It was just after he received a text message telling him the Doctor and Rose were back on Earth that the Time Lord and two Humans became unreachable. A few hours later, the Cybermen attacked and Spencer understood.

The Doctor, being who he was, was probably right in the middle of the Cybermen's base of operations. If he answered Spencer's calls, it would alert them not only to Spencer's existence, but to his whereabouts, and would put his team in danger.

Not that they weren't in danger already, what with the two dozen Cybermen that rounded all of the agents into the bullpen area. Prentiss and Garcia constantly tried to catch his eye, but he avoided them. They shouldn't do anything that might accidently attract attention to themselves.

Then, the Daleks arrived.

Not even five minutes later, Prentiss turned to look at Spencer only to find the Time Lord gone.

It wasn't until now, almost twenty four hours after the Cybermen and Daleks disappeared, that Spencer came back.

"Reid." He didn't need to look up to know it was Gideon calling him, just as he didn't need to look up to know the rest of the team were watching him. "To my office, please."

Spencer silently obeyed, looking at his boss' back as he walked up to his office. He didn't know what he was going to tell him. He wasn't completely sure what had happened, to begin with.

How did the Cybermen arrive? How were the Daleks still alive? Why did the two fight, and how did they disappear when they did?

Where were the Doctor, Rose and Jackie?

Gideon walked into his office and sat down, looking at the young profiler who sat in front of him.

"Well?" he asked after several minutes of silence. "Are you going to explain where you disappeared to yesterday?"

"I didn't run away and got high, if that's what you're wondering."

The subject was still a sore one, even though Spencer was clean for the past month, three weeks and four days, and Spencer flinched slightly as the words left his mouth. Gideon sighed.

"I'm not angry," he said. "I'm not here to lecture you or something like that."

"Sure feels that way," Spencer commented.

"I'm here because I'm worried," Gideon said. "There were metal men and killer saltshakers, and you just disappeared."

Spencer wasn't sure what it was that snapped him back into reality for the first time since the Cybermen attacked. There was a fair chance it was Gideon referring to the deadliest killing machine in the history of the universe as 'killer saltshakers'.

"Daleks," he said quietly, feeling the hatred rise in him.

"What?"

"They're called Daleks," Spencer said. "The metal men are Cybermen, and they're two of the deadliest life forms in the universe. They're aliens," he said simply, glancing up at his boss. "Ready to diagnose me with Schizophrenia yet?"

Gideon was silent for a few moments. "The woman from reception," he said. "Her name was Sarah. The – the Cybermen shot her, and she's dead. No," he said, "I don't believe it was a hoax. I don't think we all just imagined it. And, to answer your question, I don't think you're crazy." Spencer let out a shaky breath in relief as Gideon went on, "They're aliens?"

"Yes," Spencer said. "Not naturally-created ones, though. The Daleks were created by a madman as a means to end the war on his home planet, and the Cybermen are in reality people who adapted to their planet drifting away from its solar system by turning themselves to cyborgs. The whole 'upgrading' part came later."

"What were they doing on Earth?"

"No idea," Spencer replied. "The Doctor would probably know, but I can't seem to reach him."

"And…" Gideon hesitated. "How do you know so much about them?"

Spencer sighed. "It's a long story."

"I have time," Gideon shrugged.

"It's a long story I don't want to tell."

This time, it was Gideon's turn to sigh. "So there were… Cybermen and Daleks on Earth," he tried. "Why did they declare war on us?"

"Declared war?" Spencer repeated. "The Daleks declared war on the Cybermen, not on the humans. Calling what happened yesterday a war would suggest that the Daleks consider the humans…" Spencer trailed off, seemingly uncertain how to continue.

"Consider the humans what?" Gideon asked.

"A threat. A worthy opponent. Something worth considering."

Gideon grimaced. "I take it that they don't?" he asked.

"No more than you consider a cockroach a worthy opponent when you use bug extermination," Spencer told him. "Because you need to understand, this is what Daleks do. They don't kill, they exterminate. And they were developed for this one cause. Honestly," he shrugged. "You guys never stood a chance."

Spencer wasn't sure what was the reaction he expected, but for Gideon to raise his head and stare at him wasn't it.

"You guys," he said. "And… you said 'the Daleks consider the humans'…" He swallowed hard. "You're not human."

"No. What?" he added as the expression on Gideon's face shifted to a different sort of surprise. "You thought I was going to deny?"

"More like hoped so, really."

"You're not stupid, you would have figured it out on your own." There was a beat of silence, and then, "I'm not like them, though. I… I don't have a problem with humans, or a need to rage war against the universe or anything like that."

"Yeah…" Gideon muttered. "I think I believe you. So, is Deanna…?"

"No," Spencer said. "She's completely human."

"Why did you grow up on Earth?"

"I… I didn't."

Gideon looked like he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. "How old are you?"

Spencer swallowed hard. This part always came as a shock to species with an average lifespan as small as humans.

"Around 650," he said. "Give or take a decade."

"Give or take…" Gideon muttered in disbelief. "Give or take a _decade_?"

"Of course that's what you focus on," Spencer sighed. "Be honest – does it really matter if I'm 640 years old or 660 years old? I don't remember the exact number at the moment."

"Spencer Reid not remembering something," Gideon muttered. "Never thought I'd live to see the day."

"I don't _really_ have an eidetic memory, you know," Spencer replied. "I just have a bigger brain capacity than humans do. Pretty sure Emily knows how old I am, if it really matters to you."

"Emily?" Gideon repeated. "Emily's an alien, too?!"

"What?" Spencer asked. "No! She just… knew me, when she was a child. And it's nice to have someone to talk to. Pretty sure Garcia knows, too, although I never actually spoke to her about it."

"But, wait," Gideon said, shaking his head. "There are birth records saying you were born in 1981. Your mom has pictures of you growing up, you have a whole history! It can't just be fake."

"It isn't," Spencer said. "In October of 1981, I arrived on Earth as a day old baby. The real Spencer Reid died, and I took his place. Mom knows," he added before Gideon could comment. "She always knew."

"But if the real Spencer died… what's your real name?"

A small smile crossed Spencer's lips. "Haven't you figured it out, yet?"

Gideon frowned before his eyes widened in understanding. "You're the Professor," he said. "You're Emily's Professor. But you look nothing like what she described! And how did you turn into a day old baby?"

"Well, I…" Spencer sighed. "It's a long story."

"That's what you said before."

"It's the same story," Spencer said. "It's still long." Gideon stared at him for several long moments and Spencer sighed, realizing the other profiler wasn't going to leave it alone until he told him. "There was a war," he said. "The Last Great Time War. Biggest war to have ever raged the universe."

"How big?" Gideon questioned.

"Think of the biggest war you can imagine and then some. Now multiply it by one thousand," Spencer paused for a moment to let his words sink before resuming. "The Time War was still bigger."

"What happened?" Gideon asked. "Did you… did you fight?"

"No," Spencer said simply. "I did something much, much worse."

Gideon hesitated for a moment, seeming to be scared of the answer he'll get should he ask the question he wanted to. "What did you do?" he finally said, worry evident in his voice.

"I ran away."


	19. Halloween

**A/N:** **Honestly, you guys are my most spoiled story, I only seem to have inspiration when it comes to this one...**

* * *

 _Today didn't feel like a good day,_ Spencer Reid thought to himself as he walked back into the bullpen area after a case, knowing they only had a short break before they needed to head out on another case.

Not only did David Rossi wasn't anything that he thought he was going to be, working by himself and not sharing information or possible noted for the profile with anybody other than his little notebook, but it was Halloween, he didn't get to celebrate it _and_ he hadn't heard anything from the Doctor in close to five months.

His oldest friend was currently considered MIA, and he couldn't contact anybody who might have information about him other than Captain Jack Harkness from Cardiff who, after a quick conversation where both sides questioned the other about their connection to the Doctor, revealed to him that Rose and Jackie Tyler were both in the list of the dead for the Battle of Canary Wharf.

He sighed as he put his bag next to his desk, picking up the Frankenstein mask he left there before they headed out.

"Baby G!" Garcia called out, making his head pop up with a small smile.

Ever since discovering he was hundreds of years old, Garcia made it her personal challenge to only use nicknames that laughed about Spencer's supposedly young age. At first, it was quite annoying, but as he realized it was her way of dealing with the fact that he was twenty times her age and that his overall lifespan would probably be over three times _that_ , considering he was only in his fourth incarnation, he let her do it for as long as she felt the need to.

After all, everybody deal with finding out a close friend of them is actually an alien differently. Garcia made jokes about it, Prentiss made it her personal mission to find out as much as she could, Gideon…

Gideon left.

"There's someone here to see you," Garcia went on with a knowing smile. "He's been waiting since before you came back."

"What?" Spencer asked, hope rising within him. "Who?"

"Wouldn't say his name," Garcia smiled, clearly thinking along the same lines as Spencer. "Brown hair, around average height, wears a suit." Her smile only grew as she added, "He said he's a childhood friend."

Spencer's eyes widened and he couldn't keep the smile off his own face. It was the Doctor – it had to be! The description didn't ring a bell but, then again, Spencer didn't see this regeneration of the Doctor yet.

"Where is he?" he asked.

"At the conference room," Garcia replied, unable to keep the smile off her face. "Go ahead. I know you want to."

"Thank you," Spencer said, immediately heading towards the room in question. "Could you…"

"I'll call you when briefing's about to start," Garcia promised, and Spencer all but ran away.

When he reached the conference room, he took a deep breath to calm himself down.

 _What could have possibly kept the Doctor away for so long?_ he wondered. _Why did he only come now? And why did he arrive in person, instead of calling like he usually does?_

Spencer's excitement was quickly replaced by fear. He walked into the room hesitantly, worried what the Doctor might tell him. He didn't recognize the man who stood with his back turned to him, but then again he hadn't met this incarnation of the Doctor yet – only the ones that proceeded or succeeded him.

The man didn't turn around, and yet Spencer somehow knew he was smiling, more than likely at the Frankenstein mask that Spencer still held in his hand.

"You were always fascinated with Halloween."

Spencer froze. He may have not met this incarnation in person, but they spoke on the phone. He knew the Doctor's voice, and this wasn't it.

Yet, it was undoubtedly a Time Lord standing in front of him. The man turned, and Spencer's hearts stopped.

"Even at the Academy, when we studied Earth Cultures, this was one of your favorites. 'The night when all order is suspended, and the barriers between the natural and the supernatural are temporarily removed,' you used to say."

"You…" Spencer whispered. "What… what are you doing here?"

The man pouted. "Are you really not happy to see me?" he asked. "And after I've gone through all this trouble, just to surprise you. Really, Professor, you hurt my feelings."

"It's Spencer," he corrected automatically. "But… but you should be dead," he added as soon as he realized what was happening. "You died before the Time War even started. Master, you're… you're dead."

"The Time Lords resurrected me to fight in the War," the Master said. "Much like you, I ran away. I hid. I'm certain you're familiar with this device?"

The Master placed an old-looking fob watch on the table and Spencer swallowed hard.

"A Chameleon Circuit," he whispered. "You turned yourself human."

"Not a recommended experience, if I might say so," the Master said. "But I'm back now. Only _pretending_ to be human this time. Much more fun."

"You're…" Spencer's head was fuzzy at the attempt to take in all of the information the Master threw at him. "Does the Doctor know?"

"No," the Master replied. "And he mustn't know. Not yet, at least."

"What?" Spencer asked. "Why? Master, do you understand what this would mean? There are three of us now! And you're asking me to lie to the third?"

"Not asking," the Master said coldly. "I'm telling you."

"What?"

"Quite a lovely team you have here," the Master mused. "Would be a shame if something happened to them, don't you think? Or dear mummy, at Bennington Sanitarium."

"If you lay a finger on them –" Spencer started, but the Master quickly cut him off.

"I don't need to do anything," he said. "But I _can_ do everything, and that's all that matters."

"You…" Spencer swallowed hard. "Why are you telling me this? I can know you're alive but the Doctor can't, why?"

"Don't worry," the Master said with a small smile. "You'll find out soon. In the meanwhile…"

The Master took three steps forwards and though Spencer tried to move back, he found himself with his back against the wall. The Master's smile turned into a smirk as his mouth covered Spencer's, giving the other Time Lord no way to escape.

And he tried. For the first few seconds of the kiss, Spencer tried to pull back, tried to push the Master away.

But those seconds had passed, and instead of pushing the Master away, Spencer found himself pulling him closer. Instead of trying to get away, Spencer leaned into the kiss, and just as his mouth opened, giving the Master permission to deepen the kiss, the door opened.

"Hey, Reid, Hotch's calling everyone for briefing about the –"

Spencer and the Master pulled away and Spencer felt his cheeks darken under Morgan's surprised stare.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I, um…"

"I was just leaving," the Master said, giving Spencer another short kiss before retreating. "I'll be in touch," he promised, turning around and finally leaving Spencer and Morgan alone.

"I…" Spencer started, unsure what he wanted to say.

"I'll give you a minute to catch your breath," Morgan said. "Briefing's in five."

"Yeah," Spencer muttered as Morgan walked out. "I'll… I'll be there."

As soon as he was alone, he banged his head against the wall.

How could he have been so stupid? The Master wasn't even back in his life for a whole day and he was already making a fool of himself.

Slowly, he walked towards the table and picked up the fob watch. It opened almost as soon as Spencer touched it, and a small piece of paper fell out – a business card.

 _Harold Saxon,  
Minister of Defense._

* * *

 **A/N#2:** **So I was reading parts from this to my boyfriend when I got to the kissing part and I was like, "Er... well... they're kissing now" and got all flustered and he laughed at me for three days for not being able to read out a kissing scene that I wrote :-|**


	20. Cardiff, Part 1

**A/N:** **Finally tying up all of the loose ends from "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday". as well as small hints to "The Runaway Bride".**

 **And Jack. I reread "Christmas", and remembered the Doctor saying that Jack reminded him of the Professor, so I decided I had to put a scene of the two of them together :)**

 **Part 2 will be up either tomorrow or the day after that.**

* * *

Spencer couldn't help looking over his shoulder as he walked into the hotel. He tried telling himself that there was nothing to worry about, but even he didn't believe himself.

Six months had passed since he last heard from the Doctor. Close to two since the Master first contacted him. His phone buzzed in his pocket, as if to remind him of those two facts, but he didn't move to look at it.

He walked straight to the reception deck, fighting not to roll his eyes when the woman who greeted him seemed to turn somewhat cold upon hearing his accent before quickly handing him the key to his room and sending him away. He'd been in Cardiff for less than two hours and was already starting to tire of this attitude.

Maybe he should just fake his accent. Rassilion knows that he'd done that enough times, though not even once since he stopped being the Professor. He considered it for another moment before deciding to stick to his regular one.

Spencer Reid had nothing to be ashamed of, or so he told himself. He didn't believe that, either.

When Hotch told them they all got a week off for Christmas, Spencer knew trouble was coming. Forced vacations – and, no matter what Strauss was telling them, this _was_ a forced vacation – meant their superiors in the chain of command needed some time to cool over something the team did. He didn't know what they did, but he knew they'd unknowingly done something.

But with Prentiss being all but forced to go visit her mother, and the rest having their own families to go to for Christmas, Spencer realized if he won't do something soon, he'll spend all of Christmas with only his thoughts to accompany him.

A couple of phone calls later and he boarded a flight across the Atlantic. Less than twenty-four hours after he had been told of the vacation, Spencer debated falling into the bed of his hotel in Cardiff to sleep his way through the jet-lag only to be stopped by a knock on the door.

The man who smiled at him when he opened the door wasn't someone Spencer met personally before, though they spoke very often on the phone during the past six months. Captain Jack Harkness looked Spencer up and down before his smile widened.

"Wish I'd met you before, Spencer," he said with a cheeky wink. "If I'd known you were this cute I'd have boarded a flight to the States _ages_ ago."

Spencer couldn't help but return the smile. The more he got to know Jack, the more he understood what the Doctor told him over a year ago. The 51st century man did more than just remind Spencer of his own past regenerations, he somehow managed to bring out part of him that his teammates will be shocked to find out were there, if they ever found out.

"Please, ignore him," a woman with a heavy local accent said. "He's always like that, that's why I came here. Had to make sure he's not overwhelming our guest," she added with a pointed look towards Jack.

Spencer smirked. "Oh, I'd be more worried about him, if I were you," he said. "Not sure if he could keep up to my pace."

"Keep up?" Jack repeated, raising a brow. "And what pace would that be, old man?"

"Well, I _do_ have a binary vascular system," Spencer mused. "Two hearts means it takes a lot to tire me out."

"Really?" Jack questioned. "Anything else you've got two of?"

"Oh, wouldn't you want to find out?"

"Would you like me to leave the two of you alone?" the woman cut in, annoyed.

"If you want," Jack replied, not taking his eyes off Spencer. "We _do_ have a bed."

"We also have work to do," Spencer reminded him. "Maybe later. I'm Spencer, by the way," he added, turning to look at the woman.

"I know," she smiled. "Gwen Cooper. Also known as the one who thought one of him was bad enough," she added, nodding towards Jack.

"From what I've heard, you should have met him in his past regenerations," Jack said. "This is tamed compared to them."

"Oh, I dread to think," Gwen muttered, but Spencer could see the hint of a smile on her lips.

"Should we get going?" he asked. "You said you needed some help upgrading some of your systems."

"Yes," Jack replied, smoothly switching to business mode. "We'll walk, the Hub's not so far away."

"Yes, it is," Gwen said with a frown. "It's at least half an hour's walk."

"The guest entrance isn't," Jack told her, before turning to Spencer. "Ready to be impressed, Dr. Reid?"

"I'm over 600 years old, Captain," Spencer replied with a wide smile. "I'd like to see you try."

* * *

 _Well,_ Spencer thought as he descended into the Hub, watching the dimly-lit room come to life as a pterodactyl flew next to them, _he sure did try._

The members of Jack's team moved to stand closer to where the elevator landed, Gwen barely hiding a smile while one of the others looked mildly curious and the remaining two, a man and a woman, stared at him shamelessly.

The elevator came to a stop and Jack stepped down, offering Spencer a hand the Time Lord declined as he walked closer to the group, looking around.

"So?" Jack asked. "Impressed you yet?"

Spencer took another glance around the place, taking it in with a thoughtful look. "You do know that I grew up on a planet with red grass and two suns, right?"

"Show off," Jack grumbled.

"Time Lord," Spencer retorted, turning to look at the woman who was still staring at him. "You're Toshiko Sato, right? I read your work on sonic devices and your idea to implant their use in day-to-day devices was intriguing. Mind if I ask where did you think of the idea to have a sonic screwdriver?"

"Er…" Toshiko glanced towards Jack, who smiled knowingly. "Just something I saw a couple of years ago when I arrived as a consultant to UNIT."

"After a spaceship crashed into Big Ben," Spencer nodded. "I read the report files about the event, and got updates first hand as the day went by. Coincidently, I got my updates from the same man who held the sonic screwdriver."

"Show off," Jack repeated in a singsong voice.

"Yeah, I am," Spencer smiled, turning to the other two men. "And you are…?"

"Dr. Owen Harper," the man who stared earlier said, reaching out a hand for a shake. "Don't think I'm as familiar with your work as you are with hers, though."

"Wouldn't expect you to," Spencer said. "In the past five years or so I've mainly posted works about the connection between Mathematics to Psychology and Sociology and the usages the three have in different profiling methods." He glanced at Owen's hand, looking at it for a moment before adding, "I don't shake hands. Sorry, it's just a habit that doesn't seem to wear off. People might get nervous when they feel the double heartbeat."

"It's fine," Owen said, bringing his hand back. "How about I'll let it slide and you'll let slide that I didn't understand about half of what you said earlier?"

"Deal," Spencer told him, turning to the last man with a questioning look.

"Ianto Jones," the man said, and something shifted in the atmosphere of the room.

Spencer looked at the other man, no friendly smile on his face but no anger on it, either. There was only apathy as he spoke, studying Ianto carefully.

"You're one of the Twenty Seven."

The words seemed to catch Ianto off-guard, but he looked right at Spencer rather than backing away as most people would have done, something the Time Lord couldn't help but appreciate.

"Yes, I am," he said.

The way Jack looked from one of them to the other and back to the first didn't seem to help either of them calm down.

"Rose and Jackie Tyler were my friends," Spencer said tightly, and Ianto swallowed.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Spencer nodded silently before turning away, retreating into the lower levels of the Hub.

"The Twenty Seven?" Gwen repeated, confused.

"The twenty seven survivors from the Battle of Canary Wharf," Ianto said quietly. "The only members of Torchwood One who didn't die."

"Rose and Jackie Tyler were right at the heart of the fighting, head to head with the Daleks and Cybermen," Jack explained. "Their bodies were never even found."

He sighed, looking at Spencer's retreating back. This was going to be one awkward Christmas.


	21. Cardiff, Part 2

**A/N:** **As promised, Part 2 is now up. Hope you enjoy it :)**

* * *

There never seemed to be a stop to the work in the Torchwood Hub. Spencer had only been there for three days and he and Tosh upgraded the entire computer system, he helped Owen refill his stock of alien drugs, as well as made sure they were all safe to use on humans and spent an entire afternoon helping Gwen correlate between Torchwood and the local PD.

While at it and as if it was nothing special – which, to be honest, it probably wasn't – they also captured four Weevles who ran loose and created havoc in the streets of Cardiff and monitored two peaks in the rift's activity.

Truly, if it wasn't for Ianto's apparent ability to look at someone and prepare the ultimate coffee for their needs, Spencer would have killed Jack after the tenth time the former Time Agent proposed that they'd take a break in Spencer's hotel room. Or in Jack's flat. Or office. Or, once, the holding cells.

He was no longer as angry at the Welsh as he had been before, knowing that the Battle wasn't his fault and knowing that he had lost a great number of friends that day, as well, but though he managed to be friendly with him he didn't think they could ever truly become friends.

There was simply too much baggage to carry between them.

It was on Christmas Eve that Jack finally revealed the true reason he wanted Spencer to come visit. The team got a night off, leaving only the two of them in the Hub as Jack revealed his immortality to the Time Lord. Spencer frowned, running a couple of scans on Jack before sighing.

"I knew that _something_ was wrong when I looked at you," he admitted. "But I didn't think of it much because I knew that the Doctor travelled with you, so I thought that I imagined it. But now…" he sighed again. "Somehow, at a certain point between the Doctor starting to travel with you and when you were left on Satellite Five, you became a fixed point in time."

"Sorry," Jack said with a confused frown, "I thought that only events could be fixed points in time."

"Theoretically, yes," Spencer replied. "A person being a fixed point… it shouldn't happen. It's a mistake – no offence," he quickly added.

"None taken, I think," Jack sighed. "So, is there anything you can do? Can you… can you fix me?"

"I… I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do," Spencer sighed. "Maybe the Doctor could do something with the TARDIS, but I very much doubt it. Once something becomes a fixed point, there's nothing you can do to change it."

"So, what?" Jack asked. "I'm stuck like this? I'll never be able to die?"

"I don't know," Spencer admitted. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Jack sighed. "Should have expected it, really, but I couldn't help but stay hopeful. After living so long…"

"Yeah," Spencer sighed. "I know."

"And my team…" Jack added. "I've never grown this close to a Torchwood team before, and to know that one day they'll…"

"I know," Spencer repeated. "I'm trying very hard not to think about…" he trailed off at the sound of beeping coming from Jack's computer, frowning in confusion. "What's that?"

"Alert on alien aircraft inside Earth's inner atmosphere," Jack replied, moving to check it more closely. "Let's see if we can get a picture… oh."

"What?" Spencer asked, moving closer to look as well. "What is – oh."

The two men looked at one another, knowing that the video that appeared on the screen could only mean one thing.

One car-drive later found Spencer laying on the bed of his hotel room, trying to wrap his mind around everything that happened. In less than an hour, news would spread and he would have to answer stressed phone calls from his teammates, but for now he had some peace to think over what happened.

He would seek a thorough explanation further on, but judging on what he knew so far, the entire situation screamed 'Doctor'. Honestly, a spaceship flying over London was the Doctor's equivalent to putting up a sign declaring his presence on the highway. Just as sending out military troops to blow the ship up was the Master's equivalent to sending out a message saying 'I'm here' to replay on every television.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Spencer's cellphone started ringing in the special ringtone he set as the Master's. He knew that he couldn't simply ignore it, no matter how much he wanted, and reluctantly brought the phone closer to him.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, Professor," the Master sighed. "So rude. Did you really forget all of the etiquette lessons they gave us as kids? Then again," he mused, "I remember you offering a _much_ better way to spend these lessons."

"I asked you a question," Spencer said through gritted teeth.

"And I chose to ignore it, _Professor_."

"Don't call me that," Spencer bit out. "That's not my name."

"It's the name I knew you as," the Master said. "If I recall well, you didn't used to have a problem with me calling you that – or, more accurately, me calling that name in general while we –"

"What do you want?" Spencer cut him off sharply. "I'm really not in the mood for this, Master."

"The dear Doctor's back in town," the Master said. "Did he call you, yet?"

"Kind of hard to with you clogging the line."

"This regeneration really is quite rude," the Master said again. "Didn't dear mummy teach you manners?"

"Go to hell," Spencer replied, turning to hang up the call only to be stopped by the next words the Master said.

"You didn't say anything about my present, though."

" _What_?"

"My present," the Master repeated. "The pretty missiles, I made them for you."

"Don't you dare call shooting a spaceship and killing everyone inside something you did for _me_ ," Spencer all but snarled. "You kill because you enjoy it, Master. Nothing more, nothing less."

"There was a Racnoss inside, Professor," the Master said. "You can't just expect me to –"

" _Don't call me Professor_!"

Spencer was breathing hard, his hearts pounding quickly in his ears. He couldn't do it. He couldn't keep in touch with the Master any more, it will drive him to be as crazy as the other Time Lord is. He had to cut it off, and he had to do it _now_.

"Goodbye, Master," he said simply, removing the phone from his ear.

"Spencer, wait –"

But he had already pressed the button, falling on the bed and closing his eyes.

It had been two months since the Master first contacted him, and six since he last spoke to the Doctor. He knew that even if his friend would call now he wouldn't tell him about the Master being back – there was too much risk, especially considering he had just hung up in his face – but he needed to hear his voice, to know for certain that he as alright.

More than that, he needed an explanation. He _deserved_ an explanation.

The Doctor picked up after the first dial, but Spencer suddenly found himself at loss for words.

"Spencer?" the man on the other end of the line asked. "Spencer, are you there?"

It was like a dam broke at the sound of the Doctor's voice, and Spencer didn't know if he was ever going to be able to close it again.

"Where the _hell_ have you been?" he growled. "Six months, Doctor. _Six months_ since Canary Wharf, and even when you finally _do_ come back, you don't even bother to call me?"

"I only just came back," the Doctor said. "Spencer, I planned on calling you as soon as I had the time, I was just… busy."

"Busy," Spencer repeated. "Yeah, I saw. Drained the Thames. Found the time for that, didn't you?"

"It wasn't by choice," the Doctor said. "There was a Racnoss –"

"Do I _sound_ like I care for your excuses?" Spencer asked. "Six _months_ , Doctor!"

"It was less than a day ago for me!" the Doctor called out. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I didn't call you sooner but I couldn't! I still can't! I can't talk about it because Rose and her mother –"

"I know that they're dead!" Spencer called back. "Not that you bothered telling me, though, I had to find out from the list of the dead!"

"They're not dead!"

At that, Spencer froze. "What?" he asked, confused.

"They're not dead," the Doctor repeated, still breathing heavily after the screaming match that proceeded his words. "They're… they're in another universe – they're _trapped_ in another universe. The one Mickey is in. The one where… the one where Pete Tyler never died."

"They're… trapped?" Spencer asked.

"They're alive," the Doctor said. "Rose is alive. But I'll never be able to see her again."

"What about…" Spencer swallowed hard. "What about the Cybermen?"

"Also from the other universe," the Doctor said. "There was a breach in the walls between worlds and they came through."

"And…" Spencer swallowed hard. "The Daleks?"

The Doctor was silent for a moment before speaking, sounding as if saying the words caused him physical pain.

"From the Void," he said, and Spencer's breath hitched. "From… they came from the Time War. The Time Lords trapped them there. When the walls between worlds breached…"

"There was access to the Void and they came back through," Spencer sighed. "Where are they now?"

"Back in hell," the Doctor replied with a darkness Spencer rarely heard in him. "The Cybermen and the Daleks, all back in the Void."

Spencer took a shaky breath, closing his eyes. "How does it always happen?" he asked. "Why… why do they keep on winning, when we always lose?"

"They don't win," the Doctor said. "Spencer, they didn't win. All of the Daleks are gone now."

"That's what you said last time," Spencer replied. "So how do they keep coming back when all of our people are gone?"


	22. Newspaper

**A/N:** **A bit shorter than usual, but we're getting closer and closer to Doctor Who's series 3 plot... On this note, would you like me to write the entire Year That Never Was? I currently plan to, but I also want to know what you would prefer.**

* * *

 _Just one more month,_ Spencer thought as he looked at the news article that displayed the current statistics about Britain's coming elections. _Just another month to the election, and the Master's winning by a landslide._

Things have been tense lately. The Doctor didn't call often, and even when he did their conversations were short. Gwen called a few months back, telling him that shortly following the massive rift activation – which nobody but him, and probably the Master, even _noticed_ – the immortal disappeared as if the Earth had swallowed him whole.

The only thing Spencer managed to find regarding Jack's disappearance was the TARDIS landing in the Cardiff Bay for two minutes, and even that turned out to be a dead end as it was still in the Doctor's future.

It all seemed to be adding up to something, a fact that was enough to drive him out of his mind with worry even without mentioning that JJ was pregnant and that Hotch nearly died in an explosion when they investigated a terrorist cell in New York.

The Master sending him at least one text message every day certainly didn't help, either.

"Hey."

Spencer nearly jumped as Morgan sat down next to him, making the Human profiler look at him in confusion.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Fine," Spencer said quickly. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Morgan commented, his eyes travelling to the paper that rested on Spencer's desk. "Your friend seems to be doing pretty well."

"Not my friend," Spencer bit out, regretting it almost immediately.

Morgan's brows travelled up in response. "Looked a bit more than friendly when he came over at Halloween."

Spencer fought the urge to blush.

Morgan never mentioned the kiss before and, in all honesty, Spencer preferred it that way. He didn't want to think about the day the Master stormed back into his life and turned it upside-down.

"Hey, I don't judge or anything," Morgan was quick to add, misinterpreting the look on Spencer's face. "I'm all for love who you love, you know that."

"Ex," Spencer found himself blurting out. "The – Saxon is my ex. He's _the_ ex. I hadn't seen him in years before Halloween," he added. "And he… he won't…"

"Won't what?" Morgan asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"He won't make a good Prime Minister," Spencer whispered. "He… he'll make a bad one. A horrible one."

He didn't know what the Master had in plan once he was elected. Somehow, the other Time Lord didn't think it was necessary to share that piece of information, though he did notify Spencer that his presence was expected in the week before and in the days following.

The only thing Spencer knew was that the Master being elected was bad for everyone involved – which, in this case, meant everyone on Earth.

"Okay," Morgan said slowly, "So do something about it. Say something."

"I…" Spencer sighed. "I can't."

"Why?"

"Because…"

 _Because he'll kill you. He'll kill Garcia, and Hotch, and Prentiss, and Rossi, and JJ. And then, once he'll be done with you, he'll kill your families and my mom._

 _He'll kill everyone I care about if I tell you as much as a fraction of the danger you're in._

"I just can't," he said aloud. "There's nothing I can do other than watch him win. I can't try to stop him… I have to support him."

"Then say no," Morgan said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Don't stop him, fine, but don't _help_ the guy."

"Do you honestly believe I wouldn't have done that already if I could?" Spencer questioned. "When I say I have to, I mean I _have_ to."

"Why?" Morgan asked again. "Come on, Reid, I can help. _We_ can help," he added. Marking around. "Or, at least, we can try to. Just… what aren't you telling me?"

"I…"

Spencer almost caved in, at the look ono Morgan's face. He opened his mouth, ready to reveal everything – tell Morgan that he wasn't Human, and that the Master and the Doctor were also alien. Tell him about his relationship with the two, the centuries old friendship, rivalry and occasional romance that they lived through. Tell him about Time Lords, and TARDISes, and time travel…

And even though he knew Morgan wouldn't believe him, he didn't care. Even being in a mental hospital seemed better, as it meant that he didn't have to worry all of the time.

Just as he was about to say the first word Spencer's phone rang, making him snap his mouth shut. He didn't have to look at the caller ID to know who it was.

"I need to take this," he said, standing up.

"Is it him?" Morgan asked, though they both knew the answer already.

"I'm sorry," was Spencer's only reply, his finger right above the 'Answer' button when the ringing ceased.

He looked at his phone for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should return the call, when it vibrated. The words that appeared on screen made his hearts stop for a moment, the constant reminder of the danger his friends were in more prominent than ever.

 _HS: I forgot to ask when we spoke last night, when is Agent Jareau due?_

Spencer swallowed hard, the face on the newspaper's cover smiling at him as fi knowing exactly what he was thinking.

His team can't know the truth, not for as long as the Master was still in the picture.

They can never know.


	23. London, Part 1

There were very few things that Spencer Reid hated.

Some things simply annoyed him – long car rides and too-bitter coffee, for example. Others, he hated with both his hearts and was willing to kill on sight – Daleks, some of the murderers his team hunted and, since Canary Wharf, Cybermen.

But there were very few things that he only hated. He didn't turn murderous over them, but it was definitely a few stages over _'annoying'_.

One of these things were phone calls in the middle of the night. He learned to deal with it over time, what with the nature of his job, but there was no justifying it while he was _on vacation_.

He rolled over to the edge of the bed. It was too big, as was the rest of his room at Saxon's – the Master's – house. There were too many pillows, too many blankets, and he couldn't wait for Election Day to arrive, if only so that he could return to his own bed in Virginia and have a good night's sleep.

He had half a mind to scream at whoever interrupted his restless sleep, but passed on the idea pretty quickly due to tiredness. Pulling the phone closer to him and placing it against his ear, he couldn't manage much more than a mutter.

"Reid."

"Spencer!" the Doctor called, his voice far too cheery for this time of the day. "How are you? Listen," he added before Spencer could reply, "Quick question, are you in the States or UK at the moment?"

"Not far from London," Spencer replied tiredly, rubbing his eyes. The last thing he wanted was to get out of bed, but if it was something urgent he knew that he could be at the city within the hour. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing serious," the Doctor dismissed. "I'm just admitting myself into a hospital and I need to list an emergency medical contact."

Spencer sighed, falling back on his back and closing his eyes. This man was going to be the death of him.

"Do I even _want_ to know why you're admitting yourself into a hospital?"

"Just checking an anomaly the TARDIS found," the Doctor said quickly. "In and out in a day. Well, I gotta go," he added. "Nurse's coming in."

"Doctor, wait –" Spencer said, only for the Doctor to hang up on him.

He glanced at the clock next to his bed and sighed. Whatever the Doctor may have gotten himself into, it wasn't causing immediate threat to anyone's life, so Spencer could wait until morning before getting involved.

Now, if he could only fall asleep again.

* * *

The next morning, Spencer told the Master he wanted to go out to the city. It took some convincing but after promising that he will not leave London's area or contact anyone on his team, the Master agreed.

The car that drove the Master to Saxon headquarters – one of the busiest places in the city three days before the elections – dropped Spencer off just a couple of blocks away from the hospital, and he immediately dialed the Doctor. When the other Time Lord didn't pick up he sighed, stopping at Costa to fulfill his need of caffeine. After all, his sleep last night was disturbed by a certain someone who felt the need to involve Spencer in his usual troublemaking.

It took nearly ten minutes before the Doctor called him back, and by then Spencer had already turned the corner and froze in shock at the size of the hospital.

"Sorry for the late call last night," the Doctor said. "I was a bit preoccupied. Did I interrupt your sleep? Did you notice that you need to sleep a lot in this regeneration? _Anyway_ , I was just passing by when I noticed –"

"Plasma coils," Spencer muttered.

"Yes," the Doctor said, sounding surprised. "How did you know?"

"Because I'm looking at the hospital right now," Spencer replied. "But these aren't plasma coils, Doctor."

"Don't be silly," the Doctor replied. "Course they are."

"No, they're not," Spencer told him. "Or, at least, not usual ones."

"Martha, have you seen the rain?" a woman next to him asked.

"Doctor, you need to get out of there, now. This is an H2O scoop."

"The rain is going up!" the woman next to him exclaimed in shock, just as bright lighting covered the sky around the hospital, blinding all of the people in the vicinity.

When the light subsided, the call disconnected and a great crater appeared where the hospital used to be.

Spencer exchanged a worried glance with the woman by his side before both of them broke into a run at the hospital's direction.

 _He just couldn't have one calm day, could he?_

* * *

It was a few hours before the hospital was back in its appropriate place. During those hours, Spencer became rather friendly to the woman who stood next to him when the hospital disappeared.

Apparently, her name was Tish and she was worried that her sister, Martha, won't return. It was only partially because if Martha didn't return then she'd have to deal with the family drama awaiting her that night on her own.

As it turned out, Spencer might have become a bit _too_ friendly, seeing that as soon as the hospital was back she shoved a piece of paper with her number to his hand before rushing to find her sister. It was a shame, too. If everything that was going on with the Master wasn't happening, he might've actually called her back.

Then again, if everything that was going on with the Master wasn't happening, he wouldn't have been in London to meet her in the first place.

The moment she was gone, Spencer started searching for the Doctor.

He wasn't hard to find – but, then again, when was the Doctor ever hard to find? As he noticed Spencer, he changed course towards him, only to pause in shock as Spencer ran to him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Must you always almost die on me?" he asked. "Can't you do something without a risk of immediate death? Just once?"

"I do plenty without risk of death," the Doctor replied, slowly relaxing into Spencer's hug and returning it. "It just… doesn't often happen on Earth." He swallowed hard before adding, "Long time, no see, Pro- Spencer."

For a moment, Spencer paused. He had seen this regeneration of the Doctor not long after he regenerated, but that was nearly a year and a half ago, and he was still quite cold towards the other Time Lord back then. The real change had happened with the Hankel case, but that was…

That was a future version of the Doctor.

Quickly, Spencer pulled back.

"Um… yes, it had been a while, hadn't it?" he asked with a nervous laugh. "Sorry, it's just… with everything that's going on – I mean, that _has been_ going on…"

"Yeah…" the Doctor muttered. "I've been neglecting you lately, haven't I?"

"A bit," Spencer agreed. "I mean, I haven't seen you since before…" he trailed off, not daring to finish the sentence out loud.

 _Since before you lost Rose._

"It's been a while," the Doctor agreed. "How about I make up for this?"

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked, confused.

"Join me."

Of all the responses the Doctor expected, Spencer freezing in shock and fear wasn't included.

"Or not," he quickly added. "You know, just a suggestion."

"It's just…" Spencer sighed. "It's not a good time right now."

"No, I completely understand," the Doctor said. " You have your life and everything, I just thought…"

"Next time," Spencer said, hoping the next time would be after the whole mess with the Master was solved.

"Promise?" the Doctor asked with a teasing smile.

"Promise," Spencer replied without hesitation. He paused for a moment before pulling the Doctor into another short hug. "Stay safe."

"I make no promises," the Doctor said, smiling. "Well, I make one promise. Next time would be soon."

As Spencer watched the Doctor's retreating back, he could only hope the next time wouldn't be _too_ soon.


	24. London, Part 2

Spencer looked around the hall he stood in, searching the crowd for any familiar faces. He had already noticed some, mainly scientists whose works he read or that he met in events similar to this, but also a great amount of politicians and people in various positions of power.

The host of the event was still missing, but Spencer didn't doubt that he'll show his face quite soon. After all, it was his big night and Richard Lazarus was known to be a man to relish in the attention he received.

He wasn't sure what to expect on the way here, but when he arrived to the entrance only for the woman who stood there to widen her eyes and let him in without asking for his name, he knew that it couldn't be good. After all, things that the Master had his hands in were very rarely good, even if the opportunity for a front row seat in what was supposed to be the greatest human discovery so far was too good to pass by.

Discreetly, Spencer placed his glass of champagne on a nearby table and moved to the bar to grab another. He didn't drink from it, nor did he plan to drink from the next, but people paid attention to things and the thought that he was feeling comfortable enough to indulge in alcohol made _them_ , in turn, to feel more comfortable around him.

The bartender smiled as he saw him, turning to pour another glass without the need to ask, when a familiar voice spoke from behind.

"So," the voice said in the worst impression of an American accent Spencer had heard as of date. "What's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"

A smile rose to Spencer's lips as he turned to adress the owner of the voice.

"Are you sure about the accent?" he asked.

"Not really," the Doctor shrugged. "Still trying it in."

"Yeah," Spencer laughed. "And the suit?"

"Not really," the Doctor replied. "Black tie and all."

"Bad things always happen when you wear those."

"That's what I said!" the Doctor said excitedly, turning to look at the woman next to him. "Martha, that's what I said!"

"I know," the woman – Martha – said with a sigh. "I was there. I'm Martha, by the way," she added when it became clear the Doctor wasn't going to introduce the two. "Martha Jones."

"Oh!" Spencer smiled. "I met your sister yesterday. Outside the hospital."

"Oh!" Martha's expression mirrored the surprise on Spencer's face. "You're the Spencer she was talking about."

"She was talking about me?" Spencer asked, blush starting to rise on his cheeks.

In retrospective, her giving him her number should have been a clue that he's made an impression, but this regeneration of him was always slower in understanding these sort of stuff. It was also more prone to embarrassment, as was clear from the Doctor's smirk.

"You've met Tish, then?" he asked. "She's Lazarus' assistant, you know. Practically raised this entire event by herself. Maybe the two of you could sit down for a nice talk later…"

"Doctor…" Spencer groaned, making the other Time Lord laugh and Martha to look between the two of them.

"How did you say the two of you know each other?" she asked.

"Spencer's an old friend from home," the Doctor replied.

Martha's eyes widened as she turned to look at Spencer, studying his features carefully.

"So," she started hesitantly, "are you also a…"

Her hand moved from one side of her chest to the other, letting Spencer know she knew about the Doctor being an alien, and the biological modifications that came with the fact.

"Yes," he replied. "Though I don't usually go announcing it around."

"No," Martha agreed. "You blend in as a human much better than he does."

"Hey!" the Doctor protested. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I have quite a bit more experience in living as a human than the Doctor does," Spencer replied. "Twenty seven years, to be exact."

"Why do you always bring that up?" the Doctor groaned.

"The opportunity's just to good to pass," Spencer teased lightly, letting the Doctor know he wasn't truly angry about that any more.

The Doctor opened his mouth to retort to that, only for their attention to be stolen as Lazarus tapped on his glass.

"Better pay attention," Spencer muttered as the man started talking. "It's show time."

* * *

A few hours later, Spencer was wondering what he had done to deserve everything that was happening around him.

Lazarus' machine worked – it had managed to turn his age down by decades – but at a price. When the man turned into a murderous, life energy-sucking beast, Spencer took a step back and let Martha and the Doctor to handle it while he helped with the evacuation of the building. When Lazarus came back to life – which, really, should have been expected – he helped calm down the guests while the Doctor and Martha ran off once more, this time accompanied by Tish.

Again, the thought came to his mind that if the two of them would have met on different circumstances, he would have called her already.

When the dust settled over the affair, Spencer found himself walking with Martha and the Doctor back to Martha's apartment, where the TARDIS was parked.

"Hello, beautiful," Spencer muttered, his hand lightly touching the box. "Oh, I haven't seen you in ages."

"Spencer, would you mind waiting inside for a bit?" the Doctor asked. "Martha and I have a few things to talk about."

"No problem," Spencer smiled, walking into th time machine and closing thw door behind him. "You know," he told the box, "the last time I was here, from your point of view, had been before the War. He redecorated a bit since. Not sure how I feel about it."

The TARDIS hummed in response and Spencer smiled.

"A bit grunge," he muttered. "But it suits you. I've been here again in your future, too. Don't know how long will have passed, but expect another change of your desktop theme. Not that I should tell you, of course."

He smiled sadly, his fingers daring to touch the controls for a second. The last TARDIS od Gallifrey. He had driven in many cars, flown in many airplanes and built many machines in the years that he had been on Earth, but there was no feeling similar to flying a TARDIS, touching the console or even just staying as a passenger.

After all, a TARDIS was a sentient being. Nothing can compare to that.

"Getting comfortable, are you?" the Doctor asked as he and Martha walked into the box.

"Just a bit," Spencer replied, not taking his eyes off the console. "Well, I should probably go now."

"Hold on," the Doctor quickly said, blocking the door. "And where's, exactly, do you think you're going?"

"I'm staying at a friend's house outside the city," Spencer replied. "If this is you worrying that I don't have a place to stay, it's fine. I got it covered."

"That's not what bothers me," the Doctor smirked. "What bothers me is that the Professor never breaks a promise."

"The Professor?" Martha asked, confused.

"That's Spencer's other name," the Doctor explained.

"Not my name anymore," Spencer was quick to add. "I can count how many people know that Spencer Reid and the Professor are the same person on one hand. Well…" he added. "I could. Now that you know, I need another finger, but that's beside the point."

"Is it?" the Doctor asked. "And what _is_ the point, Spencer?"

"The point is that Spencer Reid never breaks a promise, either," Spencer replied. "Which is why I rarely ever make promises."

"But you did," the Doctor smiled. "Last time we met. It was only yesterday for you, is your memory getting worse in your old age?"

"You're 250 years older than me," Spencer commented. "I don't think you're entitled to making jokes about my age."

"Not my fault you forgot your promise," the Doctor shrugged, oblivious to the way Martha mouthed the words '250 years' in shock. "Since you don't remember, I'll remind you. You _promised_ that you'll join me the next time we met."

"I didn't _promise_."

"Yeah, you did. And guess what?" the Doctor asked. "This is the next time we met. And you're not going anywhere."

"Doctor…" Spencer sighed. "It's really not a good time right now."

"It's a time machine," the Doctor said as if Spencer needed the reminder. "I can bring you back to this exact moment."

"Doctor…"

"You promised."

Spencer let out a heavy sigh, realizing that there was no way he was going to win this argument.

"One trip," he said. "And if you bring me back late I'll tear your head off myself."

"Wouldn't put it past you," the Doctor smiled, looking between the two passengers on his ship. "Welcome aboard."


	25. 42, Part 1

**A/N: Well, that took almost three months, was incredibly frustrating and enjoyable to write at the same time. On the bright side, seven chapters, all written, and I finished it in time for the upload range I wanted :)**

* * *

The Doctor planned to take Spencer on a nice, calm trip. One that would remind him of the wonders of the universe, and would make him want to stay.

He wasn't exactly sure where it all went wrong.

Before heading out for the trip, Spencer declared the need for a good shower and a change of clothes. In return, the Doctor offered Martha to go find a room for herself, since she was now an all-time-companion, and the three of them headed down the hall.

"I think your old room's still here, Spencer," he commented. "I clean up old rooms every now and then, but the TARDIS seems to particularly like you. Never lets me erase yours."

"You tried to delete my room?" Spencer asked. "You sure have a way of making me feel special, Doctor."

"I only tried, like, once or twice," the Doctor defended. "In all fairness, the last time that you actually used it was back in my seventh body."

"With Ace, right?" Spencer asked with a fond smile. "Rassilion, that was a confusing time."

"What was confusing about it?" Martha asked.

"For some reason beyond me, Ace only referred to the Doctor as 'Professor'," Spencer explained. "And since I still went by that name at the time… well, you can see how that led to confusion."

"Professor," Martha repeated, looking at the Doctor. "Yeah, I can see that. Kind of suits you, really."

"Please, don't," the Doctor said. "Once was bad enough, I do _not_ need to go through that again."

"Besides, I still respond to that name sometimes, if someone calls me by it when I'm not paying attention," Spencer said. "It's pretty hard to break a habit after five hundred years."

"I'd say," Martha muttered.

"Wait…" Spencer paused, looking at one of the doors and smiling. "This is my stop."

"See you at the Console Room in a few minutes?" the Doctor asked.

"I'll be there in ten."

Walking into his room in the TARDIS felt like walking into a time machine – no pun intended. Everything about this room, from the books on the shelves to the hat collection in the closet, screamed 'The Professor'.

But now that he wasn't the Professor anymore, Spencer felt like a stranger in the place he once felt most at home in.

"It's just for one trip," he told himself. "One trip, and then I'm back to Earth."

He took a quick shower and changed his clothes to clean, more comfortable ones before looking around the room, trying to find a piece of the Professor that he could still hang on to. When his eyes found the picture on the night stand, he paused.

It was of him, in his third regeneration, next to Lundi in her second. They were smiling at the camera one of the Doctor's companions – Adric, if Spencer wasn't wrong – held.

It had been a long time since Spencer thought of her - not since Tobias Hankel – and even longer since he saw her. He heard that she had regenerated again before the Time War, and that she took an active part in the fighting.

She was so different to the little girl he remembered that it was unnerving.

Hesitating for only a moment, Spencer placed the picture in one of the inner pockets of the jacket he wore.

However long he was staying in the TARDIS, and no matter what the Master had in plan for after the elections, this picture was going home with him.

"This is too mad," he heard Martha saying as he walked back into the Console Room. "You're telling me I can phone anyone, anywhere in space and time on my mobile?"

"As long as you know the area code," the Doctor said. "Frequent flier's privilege."

"You haven't even sorted her phone yet?" Spencer asked, alerting the other two to his presence. "Honestly, Doctor, what have you been doing up until now?"

"Oh, you know," the Doctor shrugged. "Been here and there. Met Shakespeare."

"You met Shakespeare without me?" Spencer asked, offended.

"I asked you to join," the Doctor defended. "You said no."

"I didn't know you were meeting Shakespeare!"

"Neither did we!"

"Let me guess," Martha laughed. "Shakespeare fan?"

"You could say that," Spencer smiled. "My mom was an English Lit lecturer."

"Your… mom?" Martha asked, confused.

"My human mom," Spencer explained.

"You have a human mom?"

"Spencer spent the past few decades living on Earth," the Doctor explained. "He… well, things happened and he was turned into a baby. It was during the War, and I couldn't exactly take care of him at the time, so I left him here on Earth. Switched him with a stillborn baby."

"That's how I got the name Spencer Reid."

"But, your parents… do they know?"

"Mom does," Spencer said, making the Doctor turn to him in surprise. "We had a conversation a couple years ago. Said she always knew. Da- _William_ ," he corrected, "doesn't. Or, at least, I think he doesn't. He left when I was – he left eight years after I arrived."

Martha nodded thoughtfully, glancing at the phone in her hand.

"Makes me want to call my dad," she said. "No matter how bad things between him and mom got, he was always there for us."

"Go on, then," the Doctor prompted. "Try it."

Martha smiled, just about to dial when the TARDIS jolted and the phone nearly flew from her hand.

"Distress signal," the Doctor said, running to the console. "Locking on. Might be a bit of –"

The TARDIS shook violently, sending them all to the floor until Spencer reached out and pulled a lever.

"Stabilizers!" he called out. "For once, could you _please_ use the stabilizers?"

"Turbulence," the Doctor replied. "It's not my fault!"

"Just use the stabilizers!"

"Sorry," the Doctor muttered once the shaking stopped. "Come on," he added, grabbing his coat and heading to the door. "Let's take a look."

Looking around as they left the TARDIS, Spencer couldn't see much through the red lights, the alerts blaring in the background and the steam that covered the room they were in.

 ** _"Distress signal transmitted,"_** a computer voice said.

"Whoa," the Doctor muttered, tugging at his coat, "now _that_ is hot."

 ** _"Automated distress signal transmitted."_**

"Whuff," Martha sighed, "it's like a sauna in here."

"It really is." Spencer muttered, pulling at his collar, "and I grew up in Nevada, so that's saying something."

"Venting systems," the Doctor said, looking around. "Working at full pelt, trying to cool down. Wherever it is we are. Well, if you can't stand the heat…"

As if on cue, Spencer opened a bulkhead door, turning to the other two with a smile.

"Do you want to keep talking or are you coming?" he asked, going through.

Martha and the Doctor joined without further delay, only to pause as two men and a woman came running towards them.

"Oi, you two!" the younger of the men called out.

"Get out of there!" the woman yelled, moving past them.

"Seal that door, now!"

"Who are you?" the woman asked once the door was sealed. "What are you doing on my ship?"

"Are you police?" the younger man asked.

"Why would we be police?" the Doctor asked, confused.

"More to the point, why would you be worried that we might be police?" Spencer added.

"We got your distress signal," Martha explained.

"If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines?" the Doctor asked.

"It went dead four minutes ago," the woman replied.

"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering," the older man snapped impatiently. "Captain."

 ** _"Secure closure active."_**

"What?" the woman asked.

"The ship's gone mad."

"Who activated secure closure?" another woman asked, running towards them. "I nearly got locked in to area twenty seven! Who are you?" she asked, finally noticing the trio.

"He's the Doctor, this is Spencer and I'm Martha. Hello," she added.

 ** _"Impact projection forty two minutes twenty seven seconds."_**

"We'll get out of this," the Captain told them. "I promise."

"Sorry," Spencer started, but did the computer said what I think it did?"

"Doctor," Martha breathed out, looking through a window nearby, and Spencer moved closer to see what she was looking at.

"Oh," he muttered. "That's not good."

"Forty two minutes until _what_?" the Doctor asked.

"Doctor!" Martha called, pulling him to see what was out the window. "Look."

The Captain took a deep breath, clearly all too aware of what they were seeing. "Forty two minutes until we crash into the sun."


	26. 42, Part 2

One short look between Spencer and the Doctor was all the two needed to establish they were taking charge of the vessel.

"How many crew members on board?" Spencer asked.

"Seven, including us," McDonnell replied.

"We transport cargo across the galaxy," Scannell added. "Everything's automated. We just keep the ship space-worthy."

"Call the others, I'll get you out," the Doctor said, running into the door they came from only for everyone to yell in alarm.

"What's he doing?"

"No, don't!"

Spencer was the quickest to react, pulling the Doctor away from the door just as a blast of hit came through. Erina put on a mask and closed the door again, making sure it was securely locked.

"But my ship's in there!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"In the vent chamber?" Riley asked.

"It's our lifeboat."

"It's lava," Scannell said sharply.

"Doctor, we should probably make sure we don't die on our way there, first," Spencer added, only causing the Doctor to turn to him in anger.

"That is the last TARDIS is existence," he said.

"And you and I both know she can handle it," Spencer replied. "But we can't."

"The temperature's going mad in there," Erina told them." Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising."

"Channeling the air," Riley added. "The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get."

"We're stuck here," Martha said.

"At least until we can get that room to cool down again," Spencer replied. "Doctor."

"We fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun," the Doctor nodded. "Simple."

"Or as simple as it ever gets around you," Spencer sighed, missing the hurt look on the Doctor's face. "Engineering down here, is it?"

"Yes," McDonnell replied, guiding them away.

 _ **"Impact in forty twenty six."**_

* * *

Spencer cursed in every language he knew when he saw the engine of the ship exploded into nothing more than bits and pieces.

"Blimey," the Doctor said, trying – and failing – to diffuse the tension with humor, "do you always leave things in such a mess?"

"Oh, my God," McDonnell breathed out.

"What the hell happened?" Scannell questioned.

"Oh, it's wrecked," the young woman said.

"Pretty efficiently too," Spencer said, nearing the engine to examine what was left. "Shame. Good fusion engines are rare."

"Someone knew what they were doing," the Doctor added.

"Where's Korwin?" McDonnell questioned, looking around. "Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?"

"No," Scannell replied.

"You mean…" Martha looked between Spencer and the Doctor. "Someone did this on purpose?"

"Korwin, Ashton?" McDonnell asked into the intercom. "Where are you? Korwin, can you answer? Where the hell is he?" she muttered. "He should be up here."

"Oh, we're in the Torajii system," the Doctor said with a small smile, looking at the local readings. "Lovely. You're a long way from home, Martha. Half a universe away."

"Yeah," Martha said, glancing out the window. "Feels it."

"Wait," the Doctor said, turning to Spencer as he seemed to realize what the other Time Lord said before. "They're still using energy scoops for fusion? Hasn't that been outlawed yet?"

"It had," Spencer replied. "Or, at least, I think so."

"We're due to upgrade next docking," McDonnell informed them.

"Never was quite as good when it came to Laws and Terms at the Academy, were you?" the Doctor joked.

"If it's not about cultures…" Spencer shrugged.

"Would have made a fine archeologist."

Spencer's response was almost immediate. He stopped looking at the machines, turning to the Doctor with wide eyes.

"Take that back!"

"Scannell," McDonnell cut in. "Engine report."

"No response," Scannell replied.

" _What_?"

"They're burnt out," he went on. "The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online."

"Oh, come on," the Doctor said. "Auxiliary engines. Every craft's got auxiliaries," he explained, turning to Spencer.

"Yes, I know," the other Time Lord replied. "Seen my fair share of them, as well."

"We don't have access from here," McDonnell said. "The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship."

"Yeah, with twenty nine password sealed doors between us and them," Scannell added. "You'll never get there in time."

"Can't you override the doors?" Martha asked.

"No," Scannell shook his head. "Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed."

"So a sonic screwdriver's no use," the Doctor muttered. "Spencer, what about hacking?"

"Even if I started a hack, it would take at least an hour," Spencer replied.

"An _hour_?!"

"Spencer Reid's a technophobe, okay?" Spencer asked. "I'm nearly thirty years out of practice."

"Nothing's any use," Scannell said. "We've got no engines, no time, and no chance."

"Oh, listen to you," the Doctor huffed.

"Pessimistic much, don't you think?" Spencer added.

"Defeated before you've even started," the Doctor picked up where Spencer stopped. "Where's your Dunkirk spirit?"

"And, most importantly," Spencer said. "Who's got the door passwords?"

"They're randomly generated," the young man said. "Reckon I know most of them. Sorry," he added, realizing he hadn't introduced himself. "Riley Vashti."

"Then what're you waiting for, Riley Vashti?" the Doctor asked excitedly. "Get on it!"

"Well, it's a two person job," Riley explained. "One, a technish for the questions, and the other to carry this."

As he put on a backpack containing a portable computer and keyboard, Spencer couldn't hide his excitement.

"Is that a Rossellini Security System?" he asked, a glint in his eyes. "They're all but extinct!"

"The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, Captain?" Riley joked.

"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?" McDonnell joked back.

"Try and be helpful, get abuse," Riley sighed, though there was no real anger in his voice. "Nice."

"You said you needed two," Spencer said.

"Yeah," Riley nodded. "One for the questions and one for the system."

"Okay," Spencer smiled. "Let's go."

"No," the Doctor said before Spencer could make as much as a single step towards the door. "You're staying. Let someone else go."

"I could be the most help," Spencer insisted. "If something goes wrong with the machinery –"

"And what if something goes wrong here?"

"I wasn't asking, Doctor."

 _'Neither was I.'_

Spencer nearly coiled back at the sound of the Doctor's voice in his head.

It had been years since they last communicated that way. At least decades, if not a century. Several regenerations each, at the very least.

It took a few moments for his mental muscles to remember how they work and speak back.

 _'What is it?'_ he asked. _'Why don't you want me to go?'_

 _'You could be of more use here,'_ the Doctor replied.

 _'I can be of more use there, since Riley doesn't have the knowledge that I do. Besides, I could communicate with you from across the ship. None of the others can do that.'_

 _'It doesn't matter,'_ the Doctor said. _'None of it matters. You're staying.'_

 _'Why?'_ Spencer questioned. _'You won't let me out of your sight, why? Doctor, what are you not telling me?'_

"I could ask you the same thing."

Once again, Spencer started at the change from a mental conversation to a verbal one. The Doctor didn't seem fazed, though, nor did he seem to care about the looks the humans in the room were giving them.

"Why were you in London?" he asked. "I've been trying very hard not to think of it, and it was so convenient that it was easy. But you're a Federal Agent for the FBI. You have a job in America, family and friends, so what were you doing in London? Professor –"

"Don't call me Professor."

"So explain what you're not telling me."

For a moment, Spencer and the Doctor stared at each other, looking as though neither of them were going to back down. The others could sense that it was different to before – they weren't communicating this time – and McDonnell was just opening her mouth to remind them they were short in time when Spencer finally looked away.

"Fine," he snarled. "But I'm not happy about it."

"I… I'll help you," Martha told Riley, trying to diffuse the tension in the room. "Make myself useful."

"It's remotely controlled by the computer panel," Riley said as they walked out. "That's why it needs two."

"Oi," the Doctor said, making Martha pause. "Be careful."

"You too," Martha said, glancing between Spencer and the Doctor once more before running out.

 **"McDonnell,"** a voice called through the intercom. **"It's Ashton."**

"Where are you?" McDonnell asked. "Is Korwin with you?"

 **"Get up to the Med-Center now!"** Ashton said, and McDonnell didn't wait a moment in running out.

"Spencer, with me," the Doctor all but ordered, and Spencer bit back a reply as the three of them ran past Martha and Riley.

Neither Time Lord looked at the other, even as the computer's automated voice spoke again.

 ** _"Impact in thirty four thirty one."_**


	27. 42, Part 3

As soon as they walked into the Med-Center, Spencer ran a quick examination of the room.

Much like the rest of the ship, it looked like someone torn parts of the walls out of place – Spencer didn't know if because of the crash or the age of the ship – but there were also numerous cabinets filled with medical tech and drugs, as well as a fully equipped stasis chamber at the center of the room.

All in all, compared to the simplicity he saw in other parts of the ship, Spencer couldn't help but appreciate the fact that the Med-Center was equipped with top-notch technology. It was clear that McDonnell didn't allow for anything but the best when it came for the health and safety of her crew.

What he found most interesting, though, were the people next to the stasis chamber – two of which were fighting the third in an attempt to get the third inside.

"Korwin!" McDonnell called out when she saw them. "What's happened? Is he okay?"

"Help me!" the third man, who Spencer could only assume wad Korwin, cried out. "It's burning me!"

"How long's he been like this?" the Doctor questioned.

"Ashton just brought him in," the woman said as the Doctor scanned Korwin his screwdriver.

"What are you doing?" McDonnell asked, trying to step closer only for Spencer to hold her in place.

"Stay back," he ordered sternly, examining the Doctor's face as the scan results arrived.

"Don't be so stupid," McDonnell replied. "That's my husband."

"And he's just sabotaged our ship," the other man – Ashton – replied.

 _'Doctor?'_ Spencer asked silently.

 _'Not good,'_ the Doctor replied.

"What?" McDonnell asked in disbelief.

"He went mad," Ashton went on. "He put the ship onto secure closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls."

"No way," McDonnell shook get head. "He wouldn't do that."

"I saw it happen, Captain."

"Korwin?" the Doctor asked, ignoring the conversation taking place behind him. "Korwin, open your eyes for me a second."

"I can't!" Korwin moaned in pain.

"Yeah, course you can," the Doctor encouraged. "Go on."

"Don't make me look at you, please…"

"Hey!" Spencer called out, gaining the attention of the woman – the medieval examiner – as he picked up an instrument from the medical tray. "Sedative?"

"Yes," the woman replied, and Spencer didn't waste a moment in using it on Korwin, sending the man into a deep sleep.

The Doctor immediately turned on Spencer, his mouth open to speak, but Spencer cut him off before he could say a thing.

"He was in pain and we weren't getting anywhere," he said. "It's best to let him rest, even if for a bit."

"What's wrong with him?" McDonnell asked, worried.

"Rising body temperature," the Doctor replied, not taking his eyes off Spencer for a moment, "unusual energy readings."

"Lucky thing we have a stasis chamber," Spencer interfered. "You do love a good stasis chamber, don't you, Doctor?"

"Keep him sedated in there," the Doctor said, fighting to keep away the smile that threatened to surface at Spencer's words. "Regulate the body temperature. And, just for fun, run a Bioscan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail."

"Just doing them now," the woman replied.

"Oh, you're good," the Doctor told her, finally letting that rebellious smile slip through. "Anyone else presenting these symptoms?"

"Not so far."

"Well, that's something," the Doctor muttered.

"Will someone tell me what is the matter with him?" McDonnell called out.

"Some sort of infection," Spencer replied.

"We'll know more after the test results," the Doctor added. "Now, allons-y, back downstairs."

"Hey," Spencer told Ashton, "check out those engines."

"Go with him," the Doctor told McDonnell, who, with one last glance at her husband, followed Ashton out. "Call us if there's news. Any questions?"

"Yeah," the medical examiner said. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor and this is Spencer," the Doctor said, grabbing Spencer's hand as he ran out.

 ** _"Heat shield failing. At twenty-five percent. Impact in thirty two fifty."_**

* * *

All the way back to Engineering, and after they had arrived, both Spencer and the Doctor did their best not to look at each other.

It was clear that the atmosphere was tense – Spencer could feel the mental waves radiating from the Doctor, and he was certain the Doctor felt the same coming from him. Both of them were so unused to being around other Time Lords that they forgot how to keep their shields up in times of stress, and a ship hurling towards a sun definitely counted as stress.

Spencer knew that there will be a conversation to follow the fight from earlier, but they both chose to focus on the most important aspect at the moment – namely, not dying.

"Abi, how's Korwin doing?" the Doctor asked into the intercom. "Any results from the bio-scan?"

 **"He's under heavy sedation,"** Abi replied. **"I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know."**

"Martha? Riley?" the Doctor added. "How're you doing?"

 **"Area twenty nine,"** Martha told him. **"At the door to twenty eight."**

"Yeah, you've got to move faster," the Doctor said.

 **"We're doing our best."**

 **"Find the next number in the sequence,"** they could hear Riley muttering in the background, **"three one three, three three one, three six seven… what?"**

 **"You said the crew knew all the answers!"** Martha said.

 **"The crew's changed since we set the questions,"** Riley said sheepishly.

 **"You're joking!"**

"Three seven nine!" Spencer called out, moving closer to the intercom.

 **"What?"** Martha asked, confused.

"Happy Primes!" Spencer said excitedly.

"Oh, of course!" the Doctor said. "Three seven nine."

 **"Happy** ** _what_** **?"**

"Just enter it!"

 **"Are you sure?"** Riley asked. **"We only get one chance."**

"I've got a Doctorate in Mathematics from MIT," Spencer told him. "And that's without mentioning a hundred years at the Academy. Yes, I'm sure!"

"Any number that reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one is a happy number," the Doctor explained. "Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number that is both happy and prime."

"Now type it in!" Spencer said impatiently.

"I don't know, talk about dumbing down!" the Doctor muttered, glancing at Spencer with a small smile. "Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore? It's a wonder you turned out alright, growing up on Earth."

"Yeah, I think it has something to do with the fact that I was already several hundred years old when I did," Spencer joked, and for a moment it felt as though things were normal again before the waves of distrust and worry came radiating again.

 **"We're through!"** Martha's voice diffused the tension.

"Keep moving, fast as you can," the Doctor told her, looking away from Spencer once more. "And, Martha, be careful. There may be something else on board this ship."

 **"Any time you want to unnerve me, feel free,"** Martha joked.

"Will do, thanks."

 ** _"Impact in thirty fifty."_**

Spencer quickly turned away from the intercom, starting to look through the remaining pieces of the engines around them.

 _'Doctor?'_ he asked silently. _'Backup.'_

 _'I know,'_ the Doctor replied, rushing towards him.

"We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time," Spencer repeated his thoughts aloud.

"Come on, think, the Doctor said. "Resources. What have we got?"

 **"Doctor?"** Martha called again.

"What is it now?"

 **"Who had the most number ones, Elvis or the Beatles?"** Martha asked. **"That's pre-download."**

"Elvis," the Doctor said. "No! The Beatles! No! Wait!"

"Elvis!" Spencer called out, making all people present turn to him. "Why don't we just accept the fact that I know things and move on?"

 **"Spencer, are you sure?"**

"A hundred percent."

There was a moment's pause as Riley typed the answer in before, **"Spencer, you're a star!"**

"Keep going," he said without acknowledging the praise. "You still got twenty six more to go."

"Now, where was I?" the Doctor asked, trying to get back into focus. "Here comes the sun. No, resources. So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that."

"Oh!" Spencer called out as the Doctor's idea reached him. "Oh, that's good!"

"Use the generator to jump-start the ship!" McDonnell said in understanding.

"Exactly!"

"At the very least, it'll buy us some more time," Spencer said, starting to get to work on the generator.

"That is brilliant," McDonnell said.

"I know," the Doctor said, with a cheeky smile, turning to Scannell. "See? Tiny glimmer of hope."

"If it works," Scannell commented.

"It will," Spencer said, not bothering to look at the man. "You've got me."

If he had looked up, he would have seen the Doctor's small, proud smile at his words.

 ** _"Impact in twenty nine forty six."_**


	28. 42, Part 4

**"Doctor,"** Abi's worried voice came through the intercom, **"these readings are starting to scare me."**

"What do you mean?"

 **"Well, Korwin's body's changing,"** Abi explained. **"His whole biological make-up. It's impossible."** There was a short pause, during which an odd noise came through the speaker, causing Spencer to glance up. **"This is Med-Center. Urgent assistance requested. Urgent assistance!"**

"Stay here!" the Doctor called out. "Keep working! Spencer –"

"I know," Spencer said. "I'll get it done."

"Abi, they're on their way," Erina said as the Doctor and McDonnell ran out, Scannell quick to follow. "They'll make it in time," she added quietly. "Won't they?"

Not knowing how to reassure the woman, Spencer didn't look up from the generator. Next to him, he could hear Ashton quietly muttering.

"I hope they will."

They waited, silently working on the engine. About three minutes had passed before voices came through the intercom again, and though he hadn't stopped completely like Erina did, Spencer still paused slightly at the sound of Abi's screams.

 **"Doctor, what were those screams?"** Martha asked.

 **"Concentrate on those doors,"** the Doctor's voice replied. **"You've got to keep moving forward."**

Even as he refocused on the engine, Spencer couldn't ignore the computer's voice talking around them.

 ** _"Impact in twenty seven oh six."_**

* * *

 **"Everybody, listen to me."**

Both Spencer and Ashton looked up at McDonnell's shaky voice coming through the intercom. Erina had just gone to fetch the equipment needed for the rebuilding of the generator, leaving the human technician and the Time Lord alone for the moment.

 **"Something has infected Korwin. We think…"** McDonnell's voice cracked. **"He killed Abi Lerner. None of you must go anywhere near him, is that clear?"**

"Understood, Captain," Ashton replied. "Erina?" he added. "Get back here with that equipment."

When no reply came over, Spencer glanced at Ashton.

"Should I…?" he started, nodding his head towards where Erina went.

Ashton hesitated for a moment, torn between the urge to keep working and the need to make sure Erina heard the warning.

"Yes," he finally said. "Go. And come back with those tools."

"I will," Spencer said, running out of the room and after Erina.

He didn't notice the spacesuit that passed him in the shadows, nor did the person inside of it see him, but he could hear the communication through the speakers.

 **"Doctor, we're through to area seventeen,"** Martha updated.

 **"Keep going,"** the Doctor replied. **"You've got to get to area one and reboot those engines."**

When he reached the storage cupboard, Spencer paused in shock. It may have been years since he travelled through space, and decades since he encountered an extraterrestrial-caused death, but he knew an endothermic vaporization the moment he saw one.

He quickly turned when he heard Ashton's screams coming from the direction he came from, and ran towards it, arriving just in time to see a figure in a spacesuit – who he could only assume was Korwin – letting go of Ashton.

He turned, hiding behind the wall as light came bursting through Ashton's eyes and only dimming down after the man – or, what _used to be_ a man – put on a spacesuit.

 _'Doctor?'_ he asked, praying to Rassilion, Omega and the Other that nothing will cut off the communication between them.

 _'Spencer?'_ the Doctor asked. _'What is it?'_

 _'Korwin,'_ Spencer replied. _'He's here. He killed Erina and infected Ashton.'_

 _'Can you get out?'_ the Doctor asked, radiating a mental tone of stress and worry.

 _'I… I don't know,'_ Spencer said, holding his breath as the two spacesuits left the room through the other door. _'I think so. Where are you?'_

 _'Currently on my way to the Storage Area,'_ the Doctor replied. _'Meet you there?'_

 _'I'll be there if you will,'_ Spencer all but muttered. _'See you soon.'_

 _'See you soon,'_ the Doctor said. _'And, Spencer… stay safe.'_

 _'You, too.'_

Disconnecting his mental conscious from the Doctor's, Spencer took a deep breath before running down the corridor towards the Storage Area. The further this trip was heading, the more he wished he could get back home already, and less than thirty minutes had passed since they landed.

 ** _"Heat shields failing. At twenty percent."_**

He barely managed to get past two areas before he stumbled at yet another mental contact.

 _'Spencer!'_ the Doctor's voice called out inside his mind. _'Change of plans – meet me at Area 17!'_

 _'Isn't that where Riley and Martha are?'_

 _'Not anymore,'_ the Doctor replied. _'Ashton threw them into an escape pod. Could you make it in time?'_

 _'I think so,'_ Spencer replied. _'Be there in a moment.'_

"That's enough!" Spencer heard the Doctor calling out as he ran into Area 17, only slightly short of breath. "What do you want? Why this ship? Tell me!"

As the spacesuit that held Ashton put its fist through the keypad, Spencer pulled the Doctor back.

"You made it," the Doctor breathed out in relief.

"Told you I will," Spencer replied. "Going to take more than two infected, hypnotized humans to keep me away."

 _'That's what worries me,'_ he could hear the Doctor thinking, and for the first time since they landed, Spencer was fairly certain the words were not aimed at him.

"Come on," the Doctor said aloud. "Let's see you. I want to know what you really are."

"Doctor, I _really_ don't think this is a good idea," Spencer said, tightening his grasp on the other Time Lord's arm.

"Come on," the Doctor said, "where's your sense of curiosity?"

"Currently battling with my need for self-preservation," Spencer replied. "And let me tell you, it's not a pretty sight. Come on," he said, pulling the Doctor back again as Ashton moved closer, his hand nearing his visor.

Both Spencer and the Doctor held their breaths when it seemed as though Ashton was going to take the visor off, only for him to double over with no apparent reason.

 ** _"Airlock sealed,"_** the computer announced as Ashton walked past them, and the Doctor quickly reached for the intercom.

"McDonnell?" he asked urgently. "Ashton's heading in your direction. He's been infected, just like Korwin!"

"Korwin's dead, Doctor," Scannell's voice came through, making Spencer and the Doctor glance at each other worriedly.

 ** _"Airlock decompression completed. Jettisoning pod."_**

As the Doctor turned to the escape pod window, looking at Martha's fear-filled eyes, Spencer felt a pit forming in his stomach.

"Doctor!" he could see Martha calling out, but no voice came through.

"I'll save you!" the Doctor called back.

"Doctor!"

"I'll save you!"

"I can't hear you!"

Spencer's hearts broke at the despair in the Doctor's voice as the escape pod disconnected from the ship and started moving towards the sun.

"I'll save you!"

"I'm sorry," he could see Martha mutter, just a bit too far from reach.

 ** _"Impact in seventeen oh five."_**

This was _not_ looking good.


	29. 42, Part 5

When they were kids on Gallifrey, it was easy for Spencer to see nothing but the best of his friends, as children often did. Even as they grew apart, Spencer could ignore the madness growing in Koschie, or the ruthlessness in Ushas. He ignored them the same way he ignored the worst parts of himself and of the Doctor.

Even when the four of them left Gallifrey, he could avoid it.

Until he couldn't.

Until he saw the Master try to take over. Until he saw the Rani attempt to destroy civilizations. Until he was faced with the worst of himself.

He once heard that in the legends of the Daleks, the Doctor was called the Oncoming Storm. He found it hard to believe back then, unable to see his friend as anything other than Theta Sigma who played with him on the red grass.

Now, as the Doctor turned away from the window and towards the intercom, he finally understood.

The Doctor he knew was no longer present. In his place was a man who would do whatever it takes to save his friend.

That thought scared Spencer more than the idea he might die on this ship.

"Scannell!" he barked. "I need a spacesuit in area seventeen now!"

 **"What for?"** Scannell asked.

"Just get down here!"

"Doctor?" Spencer asked quietly.

"Don't," the Doctor snapped. "Whatever you're about to say, just… just don't. She's my responsibility."

"And you're mine," Spencer replied. "It's my job to make sure you don't do anything stupid –"

"Is it?" the Doctor asked. "Who hired you?"

The part that hurt Spencer most wasn't the Doctor's words, or the tone in which they were said. The part that hurt most was that he knew that the mystery of why he was in London was causing the Doctor to stop trusting him, after centuries of friendship.

As far as the Doctor knew, they were the only two of their species left, and they couldn't even look at each other anymore, too filled with distrust caused by lies and secrets.

He put his hand on his pocket, not thinking much about it until he felt a rectangle object inside. Pulling it out, he found the picture from his room. When the Doctor spoke, he knew he didn't imagine the other Time Lord's eyes on him.

"You miss her, don't you?"

"More than anything," Spencer replied quietly, glancing up at his friend. "And you know she would have killed me if I let anything happen to you."

"I… I know," the Doctor said with a heavy sigh. "I miss her, too."

It took less than a minute after that before Scannell arrived, and after that it wasn't long before the Doctor stood before them, wearing a spacesuit.

"I can't let you do this," Scannell said.

"Nobody _lets_ the Doctor do anything," Spencer commented. "He just… does."

"You're wasting your breath, Scannell," the Doctor added. "You're not going to stop me."

"You want to open an airlock in flight on a ship spinning into the sun," Scannell said, still shocked with the mere idea. "No one can survive that."

"Oh, just you watch," the two Time Lords muttered, too stressed to share a smile.

"You open that airlock, it's suicide," Scannell went on. "This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you."

"If I can boost the magnetic lock on the ship's exterior, it should remagnetise the pod," the Doctor explained. "Now, while I'm out there, you have got to get the rest of those doors open. We _need_ those auxiliary engines."

"Doctor, will you listen!" Scannell called out in exasperation, turning to Spencer. "Will you tell him? They're too far away. It's too late."

"I'm not going to lose her."

Spencer managed to hold himself back until the Doctor put on a helmet and started heading towards the airlock. Reaching out, he grabbed the Doctor's arm and pulled him into a tight hug.

"If you die," he stated shakily, "I'll kill you."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile softly as he hugged Spencer back.

"You know," he joked, trying to diffuse the tension, "this phrase never quite makes the same effect when it comes to humans."

"Two regeneration in the price of one," Spencer laughed back, doing everything he could to keep the tears at bay. "Don't test me."

"I won't," the Doctor promised, pulling out of the hug and entering the airlock.

 **"Decompression initiated,"** the computer declared. **"Impact in twelve fifty five."**

* * *

Waiting was _hell_. That much, Spencer knew – after all, he spent twenty four years on Earth waiting for news about the Time War. But waiting while one of your friends was risking their lives, with nothing you could do but watch and wait, was _hell_.

And, yes, Spencer was already used to that with the amount of times his team members were risking their lives, but something about it being the Doctor made it different.

It made the waiting worse, especially when Scannell and McDonnell moved on to keep unlocking doors, leaving him to wait for the Doctor alone..

 **"Impact in eleven fifteen. Heat shield failing. At ten percent."**

 **"Doctor, how're you doing?"** Scannell asked through the intercom, seeming to realize even without seeing that Spencer would have asked the question himself if it weren't for the fact that he could barely _breathe_ , let alone _speak_.

 **"I can't… I can't reach!"** the Doctor replied. **"I don't know how much longer I can last."**

"You can do this, Doctor," Spencer found himself saying. "I know it. And I… I know that if Lundi was here, she would have said the same thing."

 **"Come on,"** Scannell added. **"Don't give up now."**

There was a minute of silence before a message popped on the screen, reading in great, blinking letters.

 ** _REMAGNETIZING._**

"You did it!" Spencer called out. "You did it, Doctor, now come back inside!"

 **"I'm coming,"** the Doctor replied. **"Be there in a minute."**

"Just close the airlock!" Spencer called out. "Doctor, close the airlock, now!"

 **"Spencer?"** McDonnell's voice came through when no response came from the Doctor. **"I'm on my way."**

"How do I close the airlock from here?" Spencer muttered, looking at the keypad before him. "Damn it," he added to himself. If the Doctor died because he was out of practice when it came to computers, he will never forgive himself.

 **"Impact in eight fifty seven."**

"There we go," Spencer smiled as his muscle memory came to place, starting to blindly type the orders to get the Doctor pulled away from the edge and close the airlock. A glance at the door showed the Doctor kneeling there, and Spencer filed in the final order before rushing to check on him.

 **"Airlock recompression completed."**

"Doctor?" he asked, forcing the Doctor to raise his head towards him. "Doctor, look at me, what's going on?"

"Doctor!" Martha called out, all but falling out of the escape pod. "Spencer! Is he okay?"

"I don't know," Spencer admitted quietly. "Doctor, listen to me – look at me."

"Stay away from me!" the Doctor called out, opening his eyes for a moment, only for bright white light to come out of it.

"What's happened?" McDonnell asked, joining in.

"It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!" was the Doctor's only reply, and he screamed it in pain.

"Riley, get down to area ten and help Scannell with the doors," McDonnell quickly ordered. "Go!"

"You mined that sun," the Doctor screamed. "Stripped its surface for cheap fuel. You should have scanned for life!"

"I don't understand," McDonnell muttered.

"Doctor, calm down," Spencer said, reaching out towards him only for the Doctor to pull back.

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Martha asked.

"That sun is alive," the Doctor said. "A living organism. They scooped out its heart, used it for fuel, and now it's screaming!"

"What do you mean?" McDonnell asked, turning to Spencer and Martha. "How can a sun be alive? Why is he saying that?"

"Doctor, calm down," Spencer repeated, trying to mentally reach out only to hit a wall that blocked him from the Doctor's mind.

"Don't!" the other Time Lord called out. "I don't want it to get you, too."

"Don't want what to get me?" Spencer asked, only to realize what the Doctor said. "Get me, _too_?"

"Oh, my God," McDonnell breathed out in realization and fear.

"Humans!" the Doctor snapped. "You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry! You should have _scanned_!"

"It takes too long," McDonnell tried to justify. "We'd be caught. Fusion scoops are illegal."

"There's no time for this," Spencer said, pulling the Doctor up. "Come on, to the stasis chamber.

"What?" Martha asked.

"If he's got a sun burning inside him, the best way to keep it at bay is to freeze him," Spencer replied. "I'd reckon below minus two hundred should do it. Freeze it out of him."

"You've got to," the Doctor nodded. "Please. It'll use me to kill you if you don't. The closer we get to the sun, the stronger it gets!"

"I'm taking you to the Med-Center," Spencer promised. "Come on, Doctor, I've got you."

He didn't look at McDonnell or Martha as he carried the Doctor away, only vaguely aware that they were both following him.

 ** _"Impact in seven thirty."_**


	30. 42, Part 6

"Statum…"

Spencer looked up at the sound of his old nickname, pausing momentarily as he recalibrated the stasis chamber to fit their demands before glancing at the Doctor, who lay inside the machine.

"Statum, where are you?"

"I'm right here," Spencer replied, reaching out a hand and using it to grab the Doctor's. "I've got you, Theta."

"Minus two hundred, yeah?" Martha made sure, going through the manual.

"No, you don't know how this equipment works," McDonnell said. "You'll kill him. Nobody can survive those temperatures."

"We're not human," Spencer replied. "No human can survive those temperatures, but the Doctor and I aren't humans. Ten seconds, that's how long his body will be able to take before his hearts go into cardiac arrest."

"Statum!"

"I'm here," Spencer said, his voice cracking. "I'm right here."

"It's burning me up," the Doctor cried. "I can't control it. If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you. I could kill you all. I'm scared!" he called out, tears starting to stream from his eyes. "I'm so scared!"

"It's okay," Spencer promised. "Stay calm. We've got you. We've got you."

"It's burning through me. Then what'll happen?"

"That's enough!" Martha called out sharply. "We've got you."

"There's this process," the Doctor started explaining, "this thing that happens if I'm about to die."

"I don't want to even hear about it," Spencer cut him off. "I told you, Doctor, you don't get to die today. If you do, I'll kill you. Say it with me," he all but ordered.

"Two regenerations in the price of one," the Doctor muttered.

"That's right," Spencer nodded, taking a deep breath as he finished recalibrating the machine. "You ready?"

"No," the Doctor whimpered.

"Yeah," Spencer sighed. "Neither am I. Let's do this."

A single nod was all of the instruction Martha needed to send the Doctor completely into the stasis chamber as Spencer typed in the last of the orders. She looked up in fear as the Doctor started screaming only to see Spencer, face as white as a ghost, shaking his head sadly.

"We have to let him get through this," he said, glancing at the screen and watching the temperature go down.

 ** _MINUS 50. MINUS 60. MINUS 70._**

 ** _"Heat shields failing. At five percent."_**

When the power was cut off from the machine, the Doctor's screams of pain turned into ones of fear.

"No!" he called out. "You can't stop it. Not yet!"

"I know!" Spencer called back, typing furiously. "The power's been cut off, I'm trying to reroute it."

"The source is in Engineering," McDonnell muttered.

"But who's down there?" Martha asked, confused.

"Leave it to me," was all McDonnell said, running out of the room.

 ** _"Impact in four forty seven."_**

"Come on," Martha muttered. "He's defrosting."

"I'm well aware of that, Martha, thank you very much," Spencer snapped. "I'm almost there."

"Spencer, Martha, listen!" the Doctor called out. "I've only got a moment. You've got to go!"

"No way," Martha immediately said.

"As if," Spencer huffed.

"Get to the front," the Doctor ordered. "Vent the engines. Sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them."

"I am not leaving you!" Martha called out.

"You've got to give back what they took!"

"Go," Spencer said, raising his eyes to look at Martha for a moment before turning back to the machine. "I'm here with him, I won't let anything happen. Go!"

"I'll be back for the both of you," Martha warned.

"You better," Spencer replied as she ran out.

 ** _"Impact in four oh eight."_**

* * *

 ** _"Impact in two seventeen."_**

Nothing Spencer did seem to make any difference. He used every trick he had up his sleeve, checked and rechecked all of the data and rerouted every power source in the ship into the Med-Center – other than the ones who sent power to the heat shields, of course.

And yet, he couldn't turn the stasis chamber back on.

 ** _"Primary engines critical."_**

He jumped in fear as the Doctor was all but thrown out of the chamber, rushing to him. The Doctor tried to crawl away but couldn't, not with the shaken state his body was in.

 ** _"Repeat. Primary engines critical."_**

"It's okay," Spencer said, pulling the Doctor closer to him.

"No," the Doctor moaned. "Get away. Please, Spencer. Please, get away."

"I'm not leaving you," Spencer told him. "I refuse."

 ** _"Survival estimate projection zero percent."_**

"Come on," the Doctor said, starting to moving only for Spencer to stop him. "We need to go."

Spencer hesitated for a moment before pulling the Doctor up and helping him move towards the door.

"Tell me where."

They moved through the areas, and Spencer noted every number they counted down.

 ** _Area 40._**

 ** _Area 35._**

 ** _Area 30._**

 ** _Area 25._**

The Doctor didn't speak again until they reached Area 22.

"Martha!" he called out.

 **"Doctor!"** Martha's voice called out, shocked that the Doctor was moving around. **"Spencer, what are you two doing?"**

"I can't fight it," the Doctor said. "Give it back or _burn with me_."

Spencer jumped back at the words, recognizing them as what the other victims of the sun said right before they started killing.

"Burn with me."

"Oh, no, you don't," Spencer muttered, pushing the Doctor away from the doors to the next area and using himself as a living shield.

 ** _"Impact in one twenty one."_**

"Enough people have died today, and the three of us are the only ones aboard this ship that try to help you," he growled. "So why don't you just shut up and leave him alone?!"

 ** _"Life support systems reaching critical. Repeat. Life support systems reaching critical. Impact in one oh six."_**

"You're hurt," Spencer went on. "They hurt you, I get it – believe me, I do."

 ** _"Collision alert. Collision alert."_**

"I know what it's like to be captured, unable to get away." The Doctor started moving towards Spencer, making him back way slowly. "I know what it's like to be tormented when you're chained, I know what it's like to feel like you're going to die and _embrace it_ , only for the pain to stay."

 ** _"Fifty eight seconds to fatal impact."_**

"And I learned the hard way that sometimes, even though you don't want it, you need to let people help you." He was backed against the wall, with nowhere to run to, and knew that all it took was for the Doctor to open his eyes and he'd be vaporized, but he couldn't stop. "And _I know_ that it's hard, but just… give us a chance!" he called out. "Just give us a chance."

The Doctor – or, at least, the creature inside the Doctor – hesitated for no longer than a moment. But that moment was all that was needed.

 ** _"Fuel dump in progress. Fuel dump in progress."_**

Without turning away from Spencer, the light went out in the Doctor's eyes and he keeled over, falling right into Spencer's arms.

"I've got you," Spencer repeated, tears streaming from his eyes. "I've got you, Doctor. I've got you."

 ** _"Impact averted. Impact averted. Impact averted."_**

Spencer didn't let go of the Doctor, holding him tightly as they both cried, even as Martha rushed into the room and pulled them both into a tight hug.


	31. 42, Part 7

For the next few hours, Martha and Spencer took turns watching over the Doctor.

When it was Spencer's turn, Martha used the time to look over Riley and Scannell, making sure that the surviving members of the crew weren't physically harmed in the process. When it was her turn, Spencer looked over the ship's data, making sure it was safely moving towards interstellar space.

By the time the three led Riley and Scannell into the storage room where the TARDIS was held, all parties were physically stable - though they all knew the mental wounds would take longer to heal.

"This is never your ship," Scannell said in disbelief, staring at the TARDIS.

"Compact, eh?" the Doctor asked with a cheeky smile. "And another good word, robust. Barely a scorch mark on her."

"I told you she'll make it," Spencer told him. "Best ship in the universe."

"We can't just leave you drifting with no fuel," Martha said, looking between the two in concern.

"We've sent out an official mayday," Riley told her. "The authorities'll pick us up soon enough."

"Though how we explain what happened..." Scannell trailed off.

"Just tell them," Spencer said. "That sun, homicidal as it may be, needs care and protection just like any other living thing."

"Shall we go, then?" the Doctor asked.

"After you," Spencer nodded. "Martha?"

"In a moment," the woman replied, and Spencer smiled as he followed the Doctor into the TARDIS.

"Hey," he said, looking the Doctor up and down. "You okay?"

"Getting there, I think," the Doctor replied. "Spencer, we... we need to talk."

"I know."

And he did. Even with the limitations of not telling the Doctor about the Master, the two had more than enough to discuss - whether it be the fact that the Doctor still didn't completely trust Spencer or all of the things he admitted to when the sun took over the Doctor.

Before either of them could say anything, though, Martha joined them in.

"So..." she started. "Didn't really need you in the end, did we?" At the look the Doctor gave her, she flinched. "Sorry. How are you doing?"

"Now, what do you say?" the Doctor asked. "Ice skating on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha. Fancy it?"

"Whatever you like," Martha replied, seeming to realize the Doctor didn't want to talk about it.

"Actually," Spencer said, "I think just home for me. I *did* say one trip."

"Right," the Doctor said, his excitement deflating. "You did."

"I'm sorry," Spencer said. "But I just..."

"It's okay," the Doctor replied. "I get it."

"Oh, no," Martha muttered, glancing down as her phone started ringing. "Mum."

Spencer and the Doctor both patiently waited for her to move deeper into the TARDIS before looking at each other.

A few moment of tense silence followed, as they both had a lot that needed to be said but no desire to say it.

"What you said before," the Doctor finally spoke. "When you talked to the sun, you said you knew how it felt."

He didn't actually ask the question but even if Spencer didn't know him as well as he did, he would have been able to hear it in his tone.

"His name was Tobias Hankel," he said. "He kidnapped me. Held me captive."

"He hurt you."

Again, it wasn't a question, but Spencer nodded.

"He nearly... he nearly killed me," he said, his voice shaking.

Even after all the time that passed, it was hard to think of the days he spent in Tobias' cabin.

"How long ago was that?" the Doctor asked.

"A little over a year."

The response was immediate. Even as Spencer looked away from the Doctor, unable to see the feelings flashing through his eyes - anger, fear, hurt - he could feel them radiating in the TARDIS.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I can't," Spencer replied. "I can't tell you more than I already had, and even that's pushing it."

"Why?"

"Because you were there," Spencer said simply, and understanding dawned on the Doctor. "Or, at least, you *will be* there. I'm pretty sure it's a future regeneration of yours."

"So you can't tell me anything," the Doctor said in defeat.

"Not without risking a tear in the Space-Time Continuum," Spencer said. "Sorry."

"It's okay," the Doctor sighed. "I get it. Just... does this have anything to do with why you're in London?"

He didn't think he imagined seeing Spencer tense at his words.

"No," he said. "I'm in London for a while different reason."

"Spencer," the Doctor started, "if someone's threatening you -"

"No one's threatening me," Spencer quickly said.

"You know, somehow I just don't believe you."

"Well, you should, because it's not me they threaten." Spencer's shoulders sagged as he took a shaky breath. "If he finds out I told you too much... he'll hurt them. My mom, my team... did you know JJ's pregnant?" he asked. "Because he does. And if I step out of place... I'm pushing the line by even *being* here!"

"Spencer, I can help -"

"No, you can't," Spencer said. "Not yet. You'll understand when you'll find out."

"I..." The Doctor closed his eyes, feeling Spencer's pain through their bond and understanding what the other Time Lord didn't say. "I'm already a part of the established events."

This time, Spencer didn't bother to reply. It was too painful, for both of them, and there wasn't anything else that either needed saying or could be said."

"Where are you staying?" the Doctor finally asked. "I'll drop you there. And I... I promise I won't look."

For the first time since the conversation started, Spencer managed to smile.

* * *

The Doctor planned to take Spencer on a nice, calm trip. One that would remind him of the wonders of the universe, and would make him want to stay.

He wasn't exactly sure where it all went wrong, but he knew he had a part in it.

The TARDIS materialized in the Master's study in the Saxon household. As he promised, the Doctor didn't check where Spencer had taken them, but he pulled him into a tight hug before he left, either unaware or not caring that the gesture made the other Time Lord uncomfortable.

"Stay safe," he whispered in Spencer's ear. "Tell me if things turn bad."

"I will," Spencer promised, slowly pulling back. "See you soon."

"See you," Martha smiled. "It was nice meeting you, Professor."

"Spencer," he corrected, though his voice was lacking the usual annoyance that came when people referred to him by his old title. "There's no need for such formalities," he added jokingly, and Martha smiled. "See you."

"See you!" Martha and the Doctor chorused as the door closed behind him and the TARDIS flew away.

It was with a note of curiosity that he realized this was the first time he entered this room without the Master. He was certain that, if they were physically able to, the stacks of papers and the computer on the desk would have called his name.

Knowing full well that it was most likely the stupidest idea he had in a while, Spencer sat by the computer and turned it on.

Logging into the computer had been easy, as was finding the information he was looking for. He wasn't really surprised at finding the connection between the Master and the Archangel Network – honestly, he suspected as much – nor was he stirred by the multiple files on Lucy Cole from before she married the Master.

A lot could be said about the crazed Time Lord, but nobody could claim he wasn't thorough.

It wasn't until he reached the oldest files in the Master's Email account that he froze, staring at the screen. Shock, betrayal and fear fought for control inside him before the last one won, and he reached towards his cellphone without even being fully aware of his actions.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Spencer jumped in surprise at the voice, his phone dropping from his hand to the floor. The Master walked further into the room, his expression unreadable as he picked it up and placed it in his coat pocket.

"You…" Spencer muttered. "You…"

"Yes," the Master said simply, having already guessed what it was that caused Spencer this reaction.

"But… _how_?"

"A few messages to make sure he trusts me enough to keep me alive when we met," the Master replied. "Then, a meeting to plant the ideas into his head – make sure he has the need to take you and make you vulnerable, but not kill you. Didn't work as well as I planned it to," he added, as if speaking of nothing more than the weather. "Caused him a Multiple Personality Disorder, and then he was just useless."

"Why?" Spencer whispered. "Why would you do something like that?"

"Well, I was going to just take you from there, but that plan went to the Void when that stupid future Doctor arrived with his companions," the Master replied. "So I went about it in a different way. Waited until you were alone, the Doctor wasn't returning your calls and – voila! There I am. Charming as ever."

"I… I don't…"

Spencer couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. The Master… the Master was the one who planted the idea to take him in Hankel's head. He was the cause of everything Spencer had gone through, in that cabin.

Even in his worst nightmares, he didn't expect the Master to do something like this.

He froze as the Master placed a hand on his shoulder, his breaths getting more and more ragged as the other Time Lord spoke.

"But… just because Hankel didn't fit the plan as I expected doesn't make him completely useless," he said. "After all, he created _such_ a beautiful vulnerability for you."

The syringe Spencer didn't know the Master was holding found its way into a vein in his neck, and soon he started feeling the familiar sensation of Dilaudid pumping inside him.

"It's okay," the Master said, catching Spencer when he started tripping to the side. "Everything's okay. Go to sleep, Spencer, it's okay."

Spencer fought with all of his might, trying to keep his eyelids open, but they turned heavier and heavier with every moment that passed.

"Go to sleep, Spencer," the Master repeated. "I'll be here when you wake up."


	32. The Prime Minster, Part 1

**A/N:** **I love the series 3 finale episodes so much. So, so much. I had them planned in my mind when this story was just an idea.**

 **With that said, sorry for the long wait, Real Life seems to be consuming more and more of my time lately. But I can assure you that I will not abandon this story (or any of my stories, for that matter).**

 ** _Important:_** _This story is rated M for Drugs, Violence and Reid Whump._

* * *

That night was, by far, the worst night Spencer had ever had. And seeing as he was over half a millennia old that was saying something.

He woke up several times during that night, either screaming or crying out of his drug-induced haze. Every time, his body was covered in cold sweat and he was shivering under the thin blanket the Master placed over him.

He didn't know where he was, and it didn't matter. All that mattered was the Master's calm voice lulling him back to sleep as he injected another doze of the drug into his body.

The first time he was up with his mind partly clear was at noon. The Master was there, as he was every other time he woke up, only this time he was offering him food instead of Dilaudid.

He ate quietly, making sure to avoid the eyes of the Time Lord before him. When he was done, he was surprised to see the Master handing him a phone.

"You need to talk to your team," he said. "We wouldn't want them to worry, now, would we?"

The threat was clear in his voice, and Spencer's hand was shaking as he reached out for the phone and dialed Morgan's number.

"Hey, kid, how's Britain?"

"Cold," Spencer said, fighting to keep the shaking out of his voice. "Really, rain at July is just unacceptable."

"So you've said before."

There was something relaxing about talking to Morgan without needing to think about everything that was wrong with his situation. And, simultaneously, it was unnerving to know that one wrong word would put Morgan's life – as well as everyone that Spencer cared for – in danger.

"So, how are thing over the sea?"

"Pretty much the same," Morgan shrugged. "There were no new cases in the past few days, and we're all keeping an ear out to see who won the election in Britain. How're things at your end? Must be stressful, with it being Election Day."

"It's about how you'd expect it to be," Spencer lied. "Been busy since the morning… though I guess it's only just morning for you guys, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Morgan laughed. "Only got to the office about an hour ago. Things looking good for your… friend?"

It was clear that Morgan still remembered his conversation with Spencer the month before. The one where Spencer admitted that the Master wasn't really his friend, and that he'd make a terrible Prime Minister.

"Things are going well," Spencer replied. "If everything goes according to the polls, we should have good news by tonight."

 _Bad news. If the Master won, it will be terrible news. For Spencer, for Morgan, for the Doctor… it will be terrible news for everyone one Earth._

 _But they won't know it until it will be too late._

"I'm… glad to hear that. So, when will you be back home?"

"In a few days, I suppose." Even Spencer didn't believe himself, but he went on anyway, "I don't suppose there will be much reason for me to stay after the elections. I suppose Harry will be quite busy, too… with him having a country to run and all."

 _With him having a whole world to wreak havoc to from a legitimate position of power._

"I'll see you in a couple of days, then."

The relief in Morgan's voice was clear, and even without the threat on his life Spencer didn't think he'd have been able to tell him the truth.

"I'll see you," he promised.

Or, rather, he didn't. Because if there was one part of the Professor that remained the same for all of his incarnations, Spencer Reid included, it was that he never broke a promise.

* * *

The next time Spencer had a retrieve from the influences of the drug was late that night. Managing to drag himself out of the bed the Master placed him in, he moved to turn the TV on, shivering as he saw pictures of the Master's party.

It was official. Harold Saxon was officially elected and declared as Britain's Prime Minister. He knew that from this point onwards, things would only get worse.

With his entire body shaking from the aftereffects of the drug and the beginning of rehab symptoms, he dreaded to think how much worse it could possibly get for him.

With shaking hands, he reached out to pick up his phone. His fingers dialed the number of their own accord, the phone moving to his ear despite the coherent part of his brain protesting that it was a terrible idea.

Prentiss picked up after the second dial.

"Spencer?" she asked. She sounded tired and Spencer glanced at the clock to see how late it was. A little over three in the morning, which meant it was just past 10pm in Quantico. "Spencer, is everything okay?"

"No." The word left his mouth before he could stop it. His voice was shaking – _he_ was shaking and he felt like he might cry if he didn't get everything off his chest. "Things are not okay, Emily, and it's only going to get worse. Something bad is gonna happen. I don't know what, but it's gonna happen soon. In the next couple of days, probably."

"Spencer, what are you –?"

"I need you to listen to me, because this is important," Spencer cut her off. "It all comes down to Harold Saxon. You have to tell UNIT – use your old contacts. You have to tell them that Harold Saxon is not human!"

"Oh," an all-too-familiar voice sighed, making Spencer freeze. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Agent Prentiss."

Spencer looked at the TV again, making sure that the video of Saxon's winning party was still there only to see the small word at the bottom of the screen, the one he previously didn't notice.

 _Rebroadcast._

"Put her on speaker, Professor," the Master said. "Or did Mummy never tell you that it's impolite to keep secrets from company?"

"Leave her alone," Spencer growled. "Leave all of them alone."

"Or what?"

With two long strides, the Master was before Spencer, grabbing the phone from his hand. A sharp blow followed, sending Spencer crashing to the ground.

"Spencer?" Emily asked from the other end of the line. "Spencer, are you okay?"

"I'm afraid Spencer can't talk at the moment," the Master said, putting the call on speaker as two of the Master's thugs came in and pulled Spencer up. "You see, when naughty boys break the rules, they're being put in timeout. And our dear Professor has been very, _very_ naughty."

"What have you done to him?"

"Oh, nothing…" the Master sighed. "Yet. I'm afraid I can't tell you much more at this point of time, but I will say this – be careful who you tell of this conversation."

"I'm not scared of you," Emily all but spat.

"Oh, but you should be," the Master smiled. "You see, as of two hours ago, Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss is in my people's custody. I have people constantly watching Bennington Sanitarium, as well as forces undercover in Officer LaMontagne's station ready to act on a single order. And that's without mentioning the men following Haley and Jack Hotchner, Agent Morgan's mother and sisters, all three of Agent Rossi's ex-wives and Agent Garcia's step-siblings. All it takes is one word from me, and they're all dead."

"You're lying."

"Wanna bet?"

Spencer could barely breathe. They were in danger, all of them were in mortal danger, and it was all because of him.

"Emily –"

"Hush now, Professor," the Master said. "The grownups are talking. So," he went on, turning back to the phone, "what do you say, Emily? Do you really want to test my power?"

"You'll pay for this," Emily replied, her voice shaking.

"Well, here's the thing," the Master smirked. "I really won't. Lock him up," he told the thugs as he shut the phone, turning to look at Spencer. "I think our friend here needs to learn what happens when you disobey orders."

"You won't get away with this," Spencer said. "The Doctor will stop you. Just like he always does."

"Not this time," the Master smiled. "Because this time, _I_ have you on my side. Not _him_. Take him away," he added. "And give him a dose every time he misbehaves, including one for this little mishap. I think a day in confinement should be enough to remind him who's in charge now."

"Yes, Master," the thugs replied, one of them giving Spencer a sharp blow to the head to knock him unconscious.

The last thing he saw before darkness took over was the Master's face smiling down at him.


	33. The Prime Minster, Part 2

**A/N:** **So sorry for the long wait between updates! My life is just so hectic at the moment... would you believe this is the first time I had been on my computer since I last updated?**

 **Anyways, I've got the third and last part of this story already written, and am going to make sure I could upload it from my phone, in case I won't have access to my computer again. Expect it up tomorrow night or Sunday morning at the latest.**

* * *

Confinement was _hell_.

For almost any species in the universe, spending long periods of time alone in a small space would be mind-numbing, but for telepathic or semi-telepathic species such as Time Lords, not being in the presence of others was even worse.

Even during his time with Tobias Hankel, when the man used Karovian smoke to meddle with Spencer's telepathic abilities, it wasn't so bad. This time it wasn't that he was mentally cut off from everyone else – he was overly aware of the fact that there was no one close enough for him to reach.

Once the effects of the drug the thugs injected him with lessened, he couldn't shut his mind again. He woke up in the morning when one of them came in to bring him food, and couldn't go back to sleep afterwards. Lost within the maze of his mind, he was close to screaming out in frustration when the other one came in for lunch.

There wasn't any real contact between them, and the man's thoughts were quite simple, but it was better than the hours between his meals.

The silence in his head was maddening.

In the early hours of the afternoon, while Spencer was desperately trying to go back to sleep, that voices finally managed to cut through the blocks that the Master put up.

"Dear god!" a woman called out.

"Who is that?" a man asked in shock.

"Oh my – Spencer!"

He could feel their presence around him – two women and a man – but there was nothing he could do to stop the hand that reached out from touching him.

 _A little girl laughing with her sister at a ballet class, not paying attention to the instructor when she threatened to talk to their parents. A teenager locking her room as screams come from downstairs, the sounds of her parents fighting. A young woman fighting so hard to prove she has a worth in a world that refuses to accept it, meeting one shut door after the other –_

"Tish!"

Spencer pulled away, trying to get out of reach only for his head to hit the wall. The woman, who he now recognized to be Tish, Martha's sister, backed away violently.

"What the _hell_ just happened?!"

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to, I… I tried to stop it."

"Are you okay?" Tish's mother – Francine, Spencer thought was her name – asked her daughter, only to be ignored as Tish crouched down next to Spencer again.

"Spencer?" she asked quietly, careful not to accidently touch him. "Can you tell me what happened? What's… what's wrong?"

"I…" He couldn't. The threat of Dilaudid was horrifying to him – no matter how much his body was craving another doze of the drug. Still, he managed to let out a few broken syllables that together formed a word. "Saxon."

The looks the three humans shared told him everything he needed to know. Not even a full day into his role as Prime Minister and the Master was raising havoc.

"He's gone completely mad," Francine said and Clive, her ex-husband, nodded in agreement. "He wanted us to lure Martha in –"

"And you let him," Clive snapped.

"I thought I was doing what was best for her!" Francine defended. "Compared to that Doctor bloke – there's something wrong about him, I'm telling you!"

"Not human," Spencer muttered.

"Who?" Tish asked, her parents too engrossed in their argument to notice the conversation. "The Doctor?"

Spencer slowly nodded. "And the Master."

"Who?"

"Saxon," Spencer explained. "That's… that's his real name."

"What do you mean by not human?" Francine asked, making Spencer jump. Apparently, she was listening to the conversation, though Clive wasn't if to judge by how confused he looked. "Aliens?" Spencer nodded again and she huffed. "Same species, too, I bet. Should've known the two of them were cast from the same mold."

"They weren't," Spencer found himself saying. "They couldn't be more different, even as kids… both of them wanted to go out to the universe, but the Doctor wanted to see its wonders while all the Master wanted was to watch it burn…"

He wasn't sure at which point Tish backed from him, but he was aware that when he was done talking she was a good two feet away from him.

"You say that like… like you know them," Clive said. "Like you… like you knew them, back then."

"Did you?" Tish asked, clearly starting to get scared at the prospect. "Spencer, are you… are you alien?"

Spencer could do nothing but nod once more before turning away from the trio before him.

What could they think of him? It was clear that their opinion of the Doctor wasn't particularly high, and with the Master kidnapping them… they must think he was terrible as well, just by association.

"Oh, Spencer," Tish sighed instead, the level of empathy she radiated enough to make Spencer's head spin after so long without contact. "What has he done to you?"

"Nothing that should concern you," the Master's voice rang through the cell, making Spencer flinch as he turned to look at his former friend. "Can I trust that you've learned to behave by now, Professor?"

 _My name is Spencer Reid._

The words were on the tip of Spencer's tongue, threatening to burst out, and he just barely kept them in. He wasn't sure what the consequences of correcting the Master during what was clearly a display of power were, but he was sure he didn't want to find out.

Instead, he lowered his glance to avoid the other Time Lord's.

"Better," the Master hummed. "But not quite there, I think. Shoes. Off."

At that, Spencer's eyes darted up again.

It took him weeks after the Hankel incident to be able to take his shoes off in front of others. The fear that someone would use that vulnerability the way Charles had made him near paralyzed with fear.

Even when he did manage to bring himself to do it, it was only in front of those he completely trusted – a group of people the Master wasn't a part of even before truth came out about what he made Spencer endure, and most certainly wasn't a part of now.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" the Master asked, making one of his thugs move forwards threateningly.

Looking down again, Spencer reached a shaking hand towards his shoes, slowly untying the laces and trying his hardest to keep his breathing leveled. He could see the looks Tish ad her parents were sending him, but ignored them as he took off one shoe, then the sock beneath it and following the motions on his other leg.

Nearly nobody knew, but Spencer's feet still bore the marks of Charles' punishment. Thin, white lines that the Doctor promised him would fade away, eventually. Probably even faster than it should, considering the Time Lords' healing capabilities were much more effective than humans'.

When he was done, he looked back up.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" the Master all but cooed. "Come out, now. I'm afraid my plans for you are slightly different at the moment. You're going to get a front row seat for _everything_. Oh, don't worry," he added offhandedly at the three remaining prisoners as soon as Spencer was out of the cell and within his grasp. "Someone should come for you soon."

If looks could kill, each of the Jones' family members would have killed the Master four times over.

It wasn't until they were in the car and driving that Spencer allowed himself to try and contact the Doctor.

The last thing he expected was for a reply to arrive in a matter of seconds.


	34. The Prime Minster, Part 3

**A/N:** **An update on time! Who'd have thought?**

* * *

The Doctor was, for lack of a better word, a mess.

After everything that had happened at the end of the universe – reuniting with Jack, helping the refugees get to Utopia, finding out the Master was alive and having the other Time Lord steal his TARDIS – he thought he had a fairly good idea why Spencer was so closed off the last time they met.

The Master always was willing to do whatever it took to make sure the Professor was as close to him as was possible, and he wasn't below going to threats and blackmail if that's what it took to make it happen.

The fact that since the Doctor, Martha and Jack managed to return to what Spencer would perceive as Present Time Earth, the Profiler wasn't answering his phone only strengthened that feeling. The fact that, when the Doctor called Prentiss to ask if she knew anything, she all but hung up the phone on him, made him certain.

The Master was holding Spencer captive. Something had happened to make the usual threats less than enough and make Spencer try to contact at least one of his coworkers. Which, in turn, led to the Master threatening _them_.

The Doctor painfully knew that his oldest friend was in trouble, and there was nothing he could do to help him. Again.

So when, after almost a day of zero contact from Spencer, the Doctor finally received a message from him through their mental bond, he was more than a bit surprised.

 _'Doctor? Can you hear me?'_

The Doctor, Martha and Jack were currently on their way to the airport the Master and the rest of the world's leaders were to depart from. At the familiar voice in his mind, the Doctor stopped in his tracks, nearly making Martha and Jack crash into him.

 _'Spencer?'_

"Doctor?" Jack asked.

"It's Spencer," the Doctor said shortly, effectively cutting Jack off.

"Oh, god," Martha breathed out. "Is he okay?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," the Doctor replied, turning out the two humans in order to fully hear what Spencer was saying.

 _'Oh, thank Rassilion,'_ Spencer said. _'I was worried the Master got to you.'_

 _'He very nearly did,'_ the Doctor replied, deciding it was better not to add that, in certain ways, he already has. _'What about you? Where are you?'_

 _'I…'_ Even in his mind, Spencer's voice was shaking. _'He got me. We're currently heading to Heathrow Airport.'_

 _'So are we.'_

 _'Doctor, you've got to be careful,'_ Spencer hurriedly said. _'You know what he's capable of. You know he'll do anything to get universal domination.'_

 _'I know,'_ the Doctor replied. _'I have a plan. Well… wort of. Parts of a plan. Around ninety percent… maybe less. Definitely more than sixty.'_

 _'Be careful,'_ Spencer said. _'He's got more power now than he ever did before… and he had more time to plan this than he did before.'_

 _'How long?'_ the Doctor asked.

 _'At least a year and a half.'_

Which meant, given that the leeway the Doctor assumed for the TARDIS coordination system after he had locked it was eighteen months, at the most, the Master used all the time he could get.

 _'Stay strong,'_ he told Spencer. _'I'm coming to get you.'_

 _'Doctor, wait!'_ Spencer all but called out in his mind as he was about to disconnect the mental bond. _'Tell Martha that I saw her family. They're fine… or, at least, as fine as anyone could be in these circumstances. They're physically unharmed.'_

 _'I'll tell her,'_ the Doctor promised. _'I'm sure she'll appreciate it.'_

Cutting off the link that connected them was one of the hardest things the Doctor had ever done, but he knew it was necessary. He had work to do, and it wouldn't do to constantly worry about Spencer. At least without him literally in his mind, he would be able to push those thoughts aside.

Or so, at least, he told himself.

* * *

Emily Prentiss was _not_ okay.

Ever since her conversation with Spencer was cut off by Saxon – though, Emily now realized it was probably not his real name – she was on edge. The admission of how much power Saxon had and the ability he had to hurt every single one of their team members helped her understand why Spencer didn't say anything before.

Which still led to the question of what changed. What did Saxon do that pushed Spencer over the line and made it so that the truth became more important than the safety of everyone they cared about. What made it more important than his mother, who Spencer guarded from harm with everything he had?

Emily could only guess, and her guesses only made her more concerned for her friend's wellbeing.

That said, there were a few things she _could_ figure out on her own. For example, she figured out that whoever Saxon truly was, he was of the same species as Spencer and the Doctor. Therefore, his apparent obsession around the two of them.

Now, _that_ thought was terrifying by itself.

Spencer told her what happened to his home planet. He told her that everyone had died at the end of the Time War. So how did Saxon survive?

In addition, as soon as the Toclafane's broadcast was aired Emily knew it was nothing more than a hoax. Even if she knew for certain that such aliens existed, she wouldn't trust a word that came out of Saxon's mouth, and didn't believe for a second that they truly were friendly.

And, judging by the Doctor's panicked tone when he called her, the team weren't the only ones who weren't able to get in contact with Spencer. Of course, when they asked, she said that she talked to him and that he said he probably wouldn't be available for the rest of the day – it wouldn't do to get the others suspecting, with everything that was at risk – but it was clear that Saxon had Spencer hidden somewhere far from reach.

Which was why she was more than a bit relieved to see Spencer at the live broadcast from the Valliant where President Winters was talking to the World's Nations.

That is, until the camera managed to focus on him long enough for her to see that there was something wrong.

She wasn't surprised that she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Is it just me or that Reid looks off?"

Morgan's question cut through the silence of the bullpen area. None of their team members replied, but it was clear that they all saw the same thing he did.

The President invited the Toclafane to appear, and Emily finally received an answer as to Saxon's real name.

 _The Master._ She read the files. She heard the stories.

She finally understood Spencer's fear at the thought of someone like him being in charge.

Her breath hitched in her throat as the Toclafane shot President Winters, killing him on the spot. The room erupted into chaos, but her eyes – as well as her team members' – were glued to the screen.

The Doctor ran forward. The guards caught him and held him back. Spencer jumped from his seat, not hesitating for a moment as he placed himself between the Doctor and the Master, even though he was barely holding himself up. Emily couldn't help but notice he was barefoot, and wondered how none of the present on the ship noticed it before.

"Leave him alone!" he called out, and Prentiss felt as though a knife had gone through her heart.

 _"Leave her alone,"_ he said not even two days ago, when the Master took the phone from him while they talked. _"Leave all of them alone."_

She couldn't hear anything. She couldn't hear what was being said around her, nor what the Master, the Doctor and Spencer were saying on the screen. Vaguely, she noticed that while most of the team disassembled after the death - the _murder_ – of President Winters, Morgan remained much in the same trance as her.

The Master kicked Spencer out of the way as he pointed his screwdriver – laser screwdriver, he said before – at the Doctor, rapidly aging him.

" _No_!"

Through the chaos, Spencer's agonized scream cut through, finally making Emily snap out.

"Two minutes past," the Master said, a cruel smile tugging at his lips as he turned back to the cameras. "So, Earthings. Basically, er… end of the world. Here come the drums!"

* * *

 **A/N#2:** **So I don't know when I'll have The Year That Never Was up. I have a lot of ideas for it, but have only very little written. What I _can_ say is that it won't cover the entire year, only parts that I think are important, and from several points of view.**

 **Also, it will be M-rated for several major character deaths, even if they'll all return to life once the Year is over.**

 **Already looking forwards to meeting you again, ~mlr96**


End file.
